Course details

  • Study time: 5 hours

  • Target audience: students and professionals with fundamental knowledge equivalent to that of a bachelor's level.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Introduction

    • Welcome video

    • Meet the teachers

    • Overview

    • Learning objectives

    • What do you want to learn?

    • Symbols used throughout the course

    • Good practices to use this platform

    • How to obtain your course certificate
  • 2

    1. Fundamental Electrocatalysis

    • What do you think Electrocatalysis is?

    • Introduction

    • Different types of electrochemical cells

    • Classification of electrochemical cells

    • Typical electrochemical reactions

    • Exercise: Galvanic or Electrolytic Cell

    • Nernst equation

    • Reference electrodes

    • Exercise - Calculating cell potentials

    • Principles of reaction kinetics

    • Mass transfer and Nernst's model

    • Butler-Volmer equation

    • Approximations of the Butler-Volmer equation (Tafel laws)

    • Mixed kinetics

    • Summary
  • 3

    2. Electrochemical Methods

    • Introduction

    • Linear sweep voltammetry

    • Linear sweep voltammetry: Transfer coefficient

    • Linear sweep voltammetry: Exchange current density

    • Exercise: Linear sweep voltammetry

    • Cyclic voltammetry I

    • Cyclic voltammetry II

    • Exercise: Cyclic voltammetry

    • Rotating disk electrode: Forced convection

    • Rotating disk electrode: Experiments I

    • Rotating disk electrode: Experiments II

    • Summary
  • 4

    3. Upscaling Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction

    • Icebreaker

    • Introduction

    • Why is electrochemical reduction of CO₂ important?

    • Technology summary

    • Quiz on CO₂ ER and electrocatalysts

    • Evolution of CO₂ electrolyzer designs

    • TRL and pilots

    • Example: CCU Pilot at VITO

    • Quiz on technology readiness and pilot projects

    • Build the Reaction: Understanding CO₂ Electrolysis Architecture

    • Path forward: policy and finance mechanisms

    • Quiz on policy and market drivers

    • Conclusions
  • 5

    Conclusion

    • Further readings

    • Help us to improve this course

    • What did you learn?

    • Thanks to our sponsors

Instructor(s)

Professor

Tom Breugelmans

Prof. Breugelmans is expert in the fields of electrocatalysis and reactor engineering. His main expertise is related to electrochemistry and the development of electrochemical processes suitable for industrial applications. He is determined to electrify the industry in a green and sustainable way to ultimately leave behind traditional, typically polluting, chemical processes.

Senior Scientist & Project Manager Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Belgium

Deepak Pant

Dr. Deepak Pant is Senior Scientist & Project Manager at the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Belgium working on electrosynthesis and resource recovery, specifically, design and optimization of electrochemical systems for CO₂ conversion and microbial electrosynthesis. He holds a PhD in environmental biotechnology and has published over 200 papers, 7 books, 6 patents and 40 book chapters. He is Editor of Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering (JECE) and Bioresource Technology Reports and Editorial board member of Bioresource Technology, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, iScience, World Journal of Microbiology & Biotechnology. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and Biotech research society (FBRS). Deepak authored Chapter 3 of this learning module on CCU electrocatalysis.