nanoGe - MATSUSFall26

Dr.

Cini Suresh^a^,^b, Cédric Tard^a, Pravin Popinand Ingole^b

^aEcole Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Boulevard des Maréchaux, Palaiseau, France

^bIndian Institute of Technology Delhi, Department of Chemistry, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, Delhi, India, New Delhi

Proceedings of MATSUS Fall 2026 Conference (MATSUSFall26)

C3 Current bottlenecks of the industrial application of CO2 electrolysis

Palma, Spain, 2026 October 26th - 30th

Organizers: Balazs Endrodi and Kevinjeorjios Pellumbi

Poster, Cini Suresh, 253
Publication date: 22nd July 2026

The increasing global energy demand and environmental concerns have driven research into sustainable pathways for converting waste materials into value-added products. This talk will explore an innovative electrochemical approach that couples electrochemical conversion of CO₂ and lignin via electrochemical CO₂reduction (ECR) with lignin oxidative depolymerization (LOR), respectively. By replacing the conventional oxygen evolution reaction with LOR, which occurs at a significantly lower potential, the integrated system reduces energy consumption and produces value-added products.[1,2] The reactions have been explored in detail, in aqueous and Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) as electrolytes. DESs are investigated as dual-function electrolytes for both CO₂ capture/conversion and lignin dissolution, addressing solubility challenges while minimizing junction potential losses.[3,4] The proposed system demonstrates improved overall electrolysis efficiency by simultaneously converting gaseous and solid waste into useful chemicals, marking a step forward in green electrochemical technologies. It is found that cell voltage to drive the reaction at 10mA cm^-2 is 330mV lower when ECR and LOR are coupled with respect to the conventional water splitting reactions (HER and OER). Lignin dissolution was enhanced in DES as electrolyte as the constituent species act as co-catalysts to promote depolymerisation reaction, resulting in higher efficiency at lower overpotentials. Additionally, coupling LOR in DES with electrochemical reactive CO₂ capture in DES allowed to carry out the counter reactions in similar electrolyte thereby decreasing the liquid junction potential across the membrane.

References:

[1] The increasing global energy demand and environmental concerns have driven research into sustainable pathways for converting waste materials into value-added products. This talk will explore an innovative electrochemical approach that couples electrochemical conversion of CO2 and lignin via electrochemical CO2 reduction (ECR) with lignin oxidative depolymerization (LOR), respectively. By replacing the conventional oxygen evolution reaction with LOR, which occurs at a significantly lower potential, the integrated system reduces energy consumption and produces value-added products. The reactions have been explored in detail, in aqueous and Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) as electrolytes. DESs are investigated as dual-function electrolytes for both CO2 capture/conversion and lignin dissolution, addressing solubility challenges while minimizing junction potential losses. The proposed system demonstrates improved overall electrolysis efficiency by simultaneously converting gaseous and solid waste into useful chemicals, marking a step forward in green electrochemical technologies. It is found that cell voltage to drive the reaction at 10mA cm-2 is 330mV lower when ECR and LOR are coupled with respect to the conventional water splitting reactions (HER and OER). Lignin dissolution was enhanced in DES as electrolyte as the constituent species act as co-catalysts to promote depolymerisation reaction, resulting in higher efficiency at lower overpotentials. Additionally, coupling LOR in DES with electrochemical reactive CO2 capture in DES allowed to carry out the counter reactions in similar electrolyte thereby decreasing the liquid junction potential across the membrane.

[2] Bi, J.; Zhu, Q.; Guo, W.; Li, P.; Jia, S.; Liu, J.; Ma, J.; Zhang, J.; Liu, Z.; Han, B. Simultaneous CO2Reduction and 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural Oxidation to Value-Added Products by Electrocatalysis. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 2022, 10 (24), 8043–8050.

[3] Suresh, C. M.; Jha, M. K.; Navneet, N.; Kashyap, H. K.; Ingole, P. P. Modulating Molecular Interactions in Bulk and Electrochemical Interfaces of Deep Eutectic Solvent-Based Tailored Electrolytes for Facilitating Reactive CO2 Capture. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 2024, 12, 46, 16819–16833

[4] Hu, M.; Yu, Y.; Li, X.; Wang, X.; Liu, Y. The Dawn of Aqueous Deep Eutectic Solvents for Lignin Extraction. Green Chemistry 2023, 25 (24), 10235–10262.

Acknowledgements:

Cini Suresh acknowledges DST-Inspire for the fellowship, and RPIT -@)@$ (Research program for International Talents) for this collaborative project.

nanoGe is a prestigious brand of successful science conferences that are developed along the year in different areas of the world since 2009. Our worldwide conferences cover cutting-edge materials topics like perovskite solar cells, photovoltaics, optoelectronics, solar fuel conversion, surface science, catalysis and two-dimensional materials, among many others.

MATSUS

Previously nanoGe Spring Meeting (NSM) and nanoGe Fall Meeting (NFM), MATSUS is a multiple symposia conference focused on a broad set of topics of advanced materials preparation, their fundamental properties, and their applications, in fields such as renewable energy, photovoltaics, lighting, semiconductor quantum dots, 2-D materials synthesis, charge carriers dynamics, microscopy and spectroscopy semiconductors fundamentals, etc.

International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics

International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV) is celebrated yearly in May. The main topics are the development, function and modeling of materials and devices for hybrid and organic solar cells. The field is now dominated by perovskite solar cells but also other hybrid technologies, as organic solar cells, quantum dot solar cells, and dye-sensitized solar cells and their integration into devices for photoelectrochemical solar fuel production.

Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics

The main topics of the Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (IPEROP) are discussed every year in Asia-Pacific for gathering the recent advances in the fields of material preparation, modeling and fabrication of perovskite and hybrid and organic materials. Photovoltaic devices are analyzed from fundamental physics and materials properties to a broad set of applications. The conference also covers the developments of perovskite optoelectronics, including light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.

International Conference on Perovskite Thin Film Photovoltaics Perovskite Photonics and Optoelectronics

The International Conference on Perovskite Thin Film Photovoltaics Perovskite Photonics and Optoelectronics (NIPHO) is the best place to hear the latest developments in perovskite solar cells as well as on recent advances in the fields of perovskite light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.