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High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide The rising accumulation of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) waste and atmospheric CO 2 presents serious environmental and health challenges. Herein, we introduce a novel strategy for the simultaneous electrochemical upcycling of PET and CO 2 in a single integrated electrolyzer, enabling ampere-level coproduction of formate. Leveraging careful electrode design of three-dimensional Ni foam at the anode for ethylene glycol (EG, derived from PET hydrolysis) electrolysis, formate formation at 1.2 A cm –2 was achieved─outperforming all reported performances for non-noble metal catalysts. A Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 -based gas diffusion electrode (GDE) enabled the selective reduction of CO 2 (CO 2 RR) to formate at the cathode. By prioritizing enhanced reactant transport and electrode architecture beyond catalyst discovery, this integrated system achieved 100 h of stable operation at 0.50 A cm –2 with Faradaic efficiencies of 93.7% (anode) and 86.0% (cathode). Superior energy efficiency was achieved in the proposed membrane-free electrolyzer, with a cell voltage of 2.91 V at 1.0 A cm –2, reducing the input energy by 65% to ca. 0.1 kWh mol –1 . This study highlights the critical role of anodic reaction choices and electrode engineering strategies in developing integrated electrolyzers with superior performance metrics.
Yu et al. (Thu,) studied this question.