A Scalable High-Throughput Deposition and Screening Setup Relevant to Industrial Electrocatalysis

Abstract

The identification and optimization of electrode materials is of great importance in the study of (flow and solid state) batteries, industrial electrocatalysis and analytical devices such as sensors. To identify useful materials from a virtually unbound set of metals, alloys and semiconductors, high-throughput techniques are of vital importance. In this paper we present a high-throughput setup that consists of 64 parallel plate electrochemical flow cells, with the anode and cathode compartments separated by a membrane. These cells can be operated sequentially or batch-wise in parallel, using a matrix-addressing approach that allows for scaling up to larger electrode matrices with minimal instrumentation cost. The setup was validated for the preparation and screening of electrode materials under hydrodynamic conditions at industrially relevant current densities, which showed that it could be used to identify optimal catalysts and the robustness of catalyst preparation. The results of the small scale experiments followed theoretical predictions and were used to optimize larger scale experiments.

From Single Crystal to Single Atom Catalysts: Structural Factors Influencing the Performance of Metal Catalysts for CO2 Electroreduction

“…Recently, much higher deposition rates have been reported for spark ablation (1 g/h for 5 nm NPs), 103 Although its application in catalysis is still in its infancy, the high production rates reported and the absence of ligands make it an interesting candidate for further investigation of catalysts in this size class. 104,105 From the above-mentioned examples of non-Cu-and Cubased ultrasmall particles, it is clear that decreasing the particle size is an effective way to tune the catalytic performance. However, smaller particle size, although enhancing overall reaction rates due to a higher degree of undercoordination, does not necessarily result in better CO 2 RR performance.…”

“…Magnetron sputtering under UHV, as reported by Kibsgaard and co-workers, is good method for this, although the low loading of the NPs makes the accurate quantification of products difficult. Recently, much higher deposition rates have been reported for spark ablation (1 g/h for 5 nm NPs), Although its application in catalysis is still in its infancy, the high production rates reported and the absence of ligands make it an interesting candidate for further investigation of catalysts in this size class. , …”

High-Throughput Electrochemistry: State of the Art, Challenges, and Perspective

“…Schouten et al recently published one of the very few literature reports on the creation of an HTE flow electrochemical system for the screening of electrode materials used for electrosynthesis in electrochemical parallel plate reactors (Figure D) . The reactor is composed of 64 microflow cells that can be operated in different configurations, allowing screening of 64 different anode/cathode combinations, with the systems separated by a membrane.…”

“…Schouten et al recently published one of the very few literature reports on the creation of an HTE flow electrochemical system for the screening of electrode materials used for electrosynthesis in electrochemical parallel plate reactors (Figure 3D). 40 The reactor is composed of 64 microflow cells that can be operated in different configurations, allowing screening of 64 different anode/cathode combinations, with the systems separated by a membrane. The authors went some way to address the dissimilarity between small-scale screening setups and larger-scale flow cells as well as the scalability of the setup to yet larger setups: to obtain a system amenable to scale-up, the authors miniaturized and further parallelized the parallel plate reactors to form a matrix of flow cells that can be run at industrial current densities.…”

Mass and density determination of porous nanoparticle films using a quartz crystal microbalance

“…In combination with direct deposition from the aerosol phase by impaction allows 3D printing of nanoparticle films onto most substrates. This production method has been successfully applied in catalysis [15,16], gas sensors [17,18], and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) [19,20].…”