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Economically viable electrocatalytic ethylene production with high yield and selectivity

Nature Sustainability volume 6, pages 827–837 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Electrocatalytic semihydrogenation of acetylene provides a clean pathway to the production of ethylene (C2H4), one of the most widely used petrochemical feedstocks. However, its performance is still well below that of the thermocatalytic route, leaving the practical feasibility of this electrochemical process questionable. Here our techno-economic analysis shows that this process becomes profitable if the Faraday efficiency exceeds 85% at a current density of 0.2 A cm−2. As a result, we design a Cu nanoparticle catalyst with coordinatively unsaturated sites to steer the reaction towards these targets. Our electrocatalyst synthesized on gas diffusion layer coated carbon paper enables a high C2H4 yield rate of 70.15 mmol mg−1 h−1 and a Faraday efficiency of 97.7% at an industrially relevant current density of 0.5 A cm−2. Combined characterizations and calculations reveal that this performance can be attributed to the favourable combination of a higher energy barrier for the coupling of active hydrogen atoms (H*) and weak absorption of *C2H4. The former suppresses the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction, whereas the latter avoids overhydrogenation and C–C coupling. Further life cycle assessment evidences the economic feasibility and sustainability of the process. Our work suggests a way towards rational design and manipulation of nanocatalysts that could find wider and greener catalytic applications.

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Fig. 1: TEA and theoretical-calculation-guided design of electrodes.
Fig. 2: In situ formation of ED-Cu NPs from the electrodeposition of copper nitrate.
Fig. 3: Performance of C2H4 production through the ESAE process.
Fig. 4: The hydrogenation pathway and mechanism of C2H4 production.
Fig. 5: Sustainability evaluation of the process.

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Data availability

The spreadsheets used for the cost analyses and CO2 emissions and for Supplementary Tables 1–7 are available in Supplementary Data 1 and 2. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 21871206 to B.Z.) and L. Zheng at the 1W1B beamline of the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility for supporting this project. We also thank Y. Liu for help with the ATR–FTIR measurements.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Bo-Hang Zhao, Fanpeng Chen, Mengke Wang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Institute of Molecular Plus, School of Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China

    Bo-Hang Zhao, Fanpeng Chen, Mengke Wang, Yongmeng Wu, Cuibo Liu, Yifu Yu & Bin Zhang

  2. Institute of New Energy Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China

    Chuanqi Cheng

  3. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Sciences, Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology (Ministry of Education), Tianjin University, Tianjin, China

    Yifu Yu & Bin Zhang

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Contributions

B.Z. conceived the idea and directed the project. B.-H.Z. and B.Z. designed the experiments. B.-H.Z. and M.W. performed the materials synthesis and electrochemical experiments. B.-H.Z., F.C. and M.W. carried out the in situ experiments. C.C. performed and analysed the DFT calculations. B.-H.Z., Y.W., C.L., Y.Y. and B.Z. analysed the experimental data. B.-H.Z. and F.C. wrote the paper. B.Z. revised the paper. All authors discussed the results and commented on the paper.

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Correspondence to Bin Zhang.

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Nature Sustainability thanks Feng Jiao, Christian Durante and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–41, Notes 1–30 and Tables 1–7.

Reporting Summary

Supplementary Video 1

Videos for the ESAE process driven by solar-derived electricity.

Supplementary Data 1

The spreadsheets used for the cost analyses and CO2 emissions.

Supplementary Data 2

Datasets for Supplementary Tables 1–7.

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The source data underlying Fig. 2.

Source Data Fig. 3

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Source Data Fig. 4

The source data underlying Fig. 4.

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Zhao, BH., Chen, F., Wang, M. et al. Economically viable electrocatalytic ethylene production with high yield and selectivity. Nat Sustain 6, 827–837 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01084-x

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