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Scaling and heating will drive low-temperature CO2 electrolysers to operate at higher temperatures

Nature Energy volume 10, pages 549–556 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Low-temperature carbon dioxide electrolysis (CO2E) provides a one-step means of converting CO2 into carbon-based fuels using electrical inputs at temperatures below 100 °C. Over the past decade, an abundance of work has been carried out at ambient temperature, and high CO2E rates and product selectivities have been achieved. With scaling of CO2E technologies underway, greater discourse surrounding heat management and the viable operating temperatures of larger systems is important. In this Perspective we argue that, owing to the energy inefficiency of electrolysers, heat generation in CO2E stacks will favour operating temperatures of between 40 and 70 °C, far from the ambient temperatures used so far. Such elevated temperatures put further pressure on catalyst and membrane stability and on the stack design. On the other hand, elevated temperatures could alleviate challenges in salt precipitation, water management and high cell voltages, aiding the technology. We reflect on these aspects and discuss the opportunities for waste heat valorization to increase the economic feasibility of the process.

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Fig. 1: Heat balance analysis for CO2E stack.
Fig. 2: Operable temperature range and single-pass spatial temperature gradient.
Fig. 3: Effect of temperature on relevant system properties.
Fig. 4: Heat recuperation and impact on achievable process efficiencies.

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Acknowledgements

This project received funding from project “e-Heat: Understanding and controlling heat to enable large scale electrolysers” (NWO OTP 19757).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands

    Henri M. Pelzer, Nikita Kolobov, David A. Vermaas & Thomas Burdyny

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  1. Henri M. Pelzer
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  2. Nikita Kolobov
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  4. Thomas Burdyny
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Contributions

Conceptualization was by H.M.P., D.V. and T.B. Visualization was by H.M.P., N.K., D.V. and T.B. The original draught was written by H.M.P., N.K., D.V. and T.B., and the manuscript was reviewed and edited by H.M.P., D.V. and T.B. Funding acquisition was by D.V. and T.B.

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Correspondence to Henri M. Pelzer or Thomas Burdyny.

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Nature Energy thanks Feng Jiao, Guenter Schmid and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Pelzer, H.M., Kolobov, N., Vermaas, D.A. et al. Scaling and heating will drive low-temperature CO2 electrolysers to operate at higher temperatures. Nat Energy 10, 549–556 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-025-01745-5

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