Description

A formic acid electrolyzer cathode catalyst.  Dioxide Materials’ cathode catalyst is hand painted on carbon fiber paper.  Each cathode catalyst is custom-made to order.

Dioxide Materials Formic Acid Cell

Dioxide Materials (DM) has developed a novel, innovative technology in electrochemically converting CO₂ into a pure formic acid product. The developed Formic Acid (FA) Process only requires CO₂, deionized water, and electrical power.

The DM electrochemical formic acid cell configuration is based on a three-compartment cell.  The cell design consists of:

1. an anode compartment,
2. a center flow compartment containing a cation exchange media where formic acid is collected and removed from the cell,
3. and a cathode compartment where the electrochemical reduction of CO₂ to formate ions occurs.

Dioxide Materials Sustainion^® anion exchange membrane, and related ionomers are key to the formic acid technology.  The electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction, occurring with the catalyst on the cathode, is theorized to be facilitated by the addition of an imidazole-based ionomer incorporated into the cathode catalyst layer. The formation of a CO₂-imidazolium complex is proposed to lower the free energy required for the reduction reaction.  The Sustainion^® anion exchange membrane at the membrane-cathode catalyst interface may also be involved in the reduction reactions. The Sustainion^® anion exchange membrane, and related ionomers  allow the electrochemical process to operate at high current densities and Faradaic efficiencies. This enables a high concentration pure formic acid product in the 5 – 25 wt% range to be produced.