Novel electrochemical methods for the formation of thin film electrocatalyst for CO2 conversion
Master projects/internships - Leuven | More than two weeks ago
Novel electrochemical methods for the formation of conformal thin film electrocatalysts for the CO2 reduction, such as TiO2, TiON or Ti2S, will be developed.
One of the biggest challenges of our society is to decrease carbon emissions while the worldwide energy demand keeps steadily increasing. A particular elegant solution to decrease the impact of the ongoing climate change is to utilize the otherwise unwanted and emitted CO2 as raw material for the electrocatalytic conversion to useful chemicals and fuels. In this regard electric energy is stored in the form of chemical bonds.
Current CO2 electrocatalysts are often suffering in selectivity towards a desired product. In this regard, thin film coatings on catalysts with a controlled film thickness and surface morphology could potentially stir the CO2 reduction towards a specific carbon compound such as formic acid, methanol or ethylene. For example, thin semiconductor coatings such as TiO2 already showed an impact on the CO2 product formation, but details on the reaction mechanism are still unclear.
In this master thesis, the student will develop novel electrochemical methods for the formation of conformal thin film electrocatalysts, such as TiO2, TiON or Ti2S. The student will study in particular the film formation mechanism and film properties through electrochemical & commonly used material characterization methods. A target will be to obtain conformal thin film coatings in the nm range on planar and nanostructured current collectors. The fabricated thin films electrocatalysts will then be electrochemically evaluated towards the CO2 conversion in different carbonate electrolyte solutions. The entire experimental work of the project is carried out at the imec facilities
Type of project: Thesis
Required degree: Master of Bioengineering
Required background: Bioscience Engineering
Supervising scientist(s): For further information or for application, please contact: Divyansh Khurana (Divyansh.Khurana@imec.be)