Wang, Haotian2023-09-012023-09-012023-082023-08-11August 202Zhu, Peng. "Catalysts Design and Reactor Engineering for Electrochemical CO2 Capture and Utilization." (2023) Diss., Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/115247.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/115247The rapidly increasing concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has raised serious concerns regarding global climate change. In response to this challenge, the Paris Agreement has set ambitious targets to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and limit the global temperature increase to no more than 1.5˚C above pre-industrial levels. While international communities have announced ambitious goals for carbon emission reduction during the 2021 Leaders’ Summit on Climate, there is an urgent need for advanced technologies, including carbon capture, conversion, and storage, to effectively neutralize or even reduce CO2 emissions. Significant advancements have been made in renewable grid technologies, enabling the efficient harnessing of green electricity from sources such as solar and wind power. By leveraging these developments, electrochemical CO2 capture and utilization (CCU) have become increasingly attractive as a sustainable and economically viable approach for utilizing CO2 as a valuable resource. The decreasing cost of renewable electricity has made the electrochemical conversion of CO2 into useful chemical feedstocks more economically feasible, opening up new possibilities for mitigating CO2 emissions and advancing the circular carbon economy. In this dissertation, I focus on coupling catalysts design and cell engineering to develop CO2 capture technologies and CO2 electrochemical reduction methods. Our research aims to contribute to the mitigation of CO2 emissions, the capture of carbon as a valuable resource, and the promotion of a more sustainable and low-carbon future. Through the development of various catalysts such as bismuth (Bi), copper (Cu) and single atom catalysts (SACs), as well as novel solid electrolyte reactors, I have successfully achieved the continuous generation of CO gas, pure liquid fuels such as formic acid and acetic acid, and CO2 capture. These advancements offer promising solutions for addressing CO2 emissions and advancing the utilization of CO2 as a valuable feedstock.application/pdfengCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.CO2 capture and utilizationElectrochemistryCataysts designReactor engineeringThesis2023-09-01