Electrochemical Deposition of Carbon Materials in Molten Salts

Molten salt CO2 capture and electrochemical transformation (MSCC-ET) into carbon and oxygen is a promising way for effectively capturing and utilizing the greenhouse gas. There are several advantages of the process over others such as high selectivity and current efficiency, value-added product of functional carbon, scalability and environmental friendly and etc. Herein, we report the absorption kinetics and thermodynamics of CO2 by molten salt under different temperatures and partial pressure of CO2 using a home-made CO2 absorption testing system. The reduction kinetics of carbonates was further investigated by several electrochemical measurements and the rate-limiting step was determined. Furthermore, carbon materials with different morphology and composition were obtained under different operating conditions. It was found that the MSCC-ET process can also absorb SO2 in flue gas and sulfur doped carbon was obtained. The obtained carbons show very good performances as electrode materials for supercapacitor and lithium ion battery.