New concepts for robust gas diffusion electrodes for the electrochemical CO₂ reduction to CO

CO₂ electrolysis is currently still in the development or pilot stage. In addition to the low availability and high price of renewably generated electisty, the industrial implentation of this technology continues to be hindered by high maintenance costs caused by the low robustness of its components. in this context, this dissertation contributes to bring CO₂ electrochemical reduction closer to industrial applicability by developing more robust alternatives to the current components for the gas diffusion electrodes used in CO₂ electrolysis. To this end, a gas diffusin layer based on a stainless-steel mesh and expanded PTFE membranes was developed that is through-plane conductive, insensitive to electrowetting, and competitive with conventional carbon cloth-based gas diffusion electrodes. Inaddition, to enable direct utilization of CO₂ from polluted industrial exhaust, poisoning-resistant alternatives to silver have been identified as chalcogenide-based catalysts for electroreduction of CO₂ to CO.