Continuous carbon capture and release using an aqueous oxygen-tolerant redox electrolyte in symmetric flow cells
8 affiliations
- 1Materials Science and Engineering
- 2National University of Singapore
- 3National Innovation Platform (Center) for Industry-Education Integration of Energy Storage Technology & Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of MOE, School of Energy and Power Engineering
- 4Xi’an Jiaotong University
- 5CNPC Research Institute of Safety & Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd.
- 6Strategy Development Department
- 7Tencent
- 8Center for Research on Electrochemical Systems and Technologies
Abstract
Electrochemical CO2 capture provides a promising pathway for carbon management under ambient conditions, yet practical deployment remains limited by system complexity and energy losses associated with oxygen sensitivity, crossover, and overpotentials. Here we report a fluoflavine disulfonate (FFDS)-based symmetric flow reactor for continuous electrochemical CO2 capture. The symmetric configuration generates spatially separated alkaline catholyte and acidic anolyte through a proton-coupled electron transfer process, enabling simultaneous electrochemical regeneration of sorbent, CO2 absorption as (bi)carbonate, and CO2 release. The system demonstrates excellent stability and high oxygen tolerance under simulated flue gas conditions. Furthermore, the CO2 release rate can be regulated by varying the applied current density. Proton crossover is identified as a parasitic transport pathway that compromises energy efficiency. Its impact can be mitigated through buffer regulation and ultimately eliminated by using an industrial packed column to maximize gas–liquid contact. An isolated dual-loop cycling mode further enables simultaneous CO2 capture and release throughout charge–discharge cycling, improving electron utilization under pure-CO2 release conditions. A preliminary techno-economic analysis identifies electricity consumption as the dominant cost contributor, while the cost associated with the redox-active molecule is negligible. Overall, this work establishes a compact, modular, plug and play symmetric electrochemical platform for continuous CO2 enrichment under near-practical operating conditions.
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BibTeX
@misc{wang2026continuous,
title = {{Continuous carbon capture and release using an aqueous oxygen-tolerant redox electrolyte in symmetric flow cells}},
author = {Xingqi Wang and Juwen Su and Kaiping Zhu and Xinglei Zhao and Liuchuan Tong and Yan Jing},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15009321/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009321/v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Continuous carbon capture and release using an aqueous oxygen-tolerant redox electrolyte in symmetric flow cells
AU - Xingqi Wang
AU - Juwen Su
AU - Kaiping Zhu
AU - Xinglei Zhao
AU - Liuchuan Tong
AU - Yan Jing
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/22
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15009321/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009321/v1
AB - Electrochemical CO2 capture provides a promising pathway for carbon management under ambient conditions, yet practical deployment remains limited by system complexity and energy losses associated with oxygen sensitivity, crossover, and overpotentials. Here we report a fluoflavine disulfonate (FFDS)-based symmetric flow reactor for continuous electrochemical CO2 capture. The symmetric configuration generates spatially separated alkaline catholyte and acidic anolyte through a proton-coupled electron transfer process, enabling simultaneous electrochemical regeneration of sorbent, CO2 absorption as (bi)carbonate, and CO2 release. The system demonstrates excellent stability and high oxygen tolerance under simulated flue gas conditions. Furthermore, the CO2 release rate can be regulated by varying the applied current density. Proton crossover is identified as a parasitic transport pathway that compromises energy efficiency. Its impact can be mitigated through buffer regulation and ultimately eliminated by using an industrial packed column to maximize gas–liquid contact. An isolated dual-loop cycling mode further enables simultaneous CO2 capture and release throughout charge–discharge cycling, improving electron utilization under pure-CO2 release conditions. A preliminary techno-economic analysis identifies electricity consumption as the dominant cost contributor, while the cost associated with the redox-active molecule is negligible. Overall, this work establishes a compact, modular, plug and play symmetric electrochemical platform for continuous CO2 enrichment under near-practical operating conditions.
ER -