Hungary | A newly launched international excellence research initiative at the University of Szeged is set to advance the commercial viability of transforming industrial carbon dioxide emissions into valuable chemical feedstocks. Supported by Hungary’s HU-RIZONT program, the three-year, practice-oriented project focuses on overcoming a major bottleneck in electrochemical CO_2 conversion: the long-term operational stability of the hardware. The primary objective of the research is to engineer next-generation gas diffusion electrodes for CO_2 electrolysis that can operate continuously for up to 5,000 hours at industrially viable current densities and high energy efficiency. By keeping the process stable over thousands of hours, the technology aims to allow large-scale emitters to capture and process greenhouse gases directly at the source. This transformation yields carbon monoxide (CO), a critical building block used heavily throughout the chemical manufacturing sector. Backed by nearly ten years of foundational research at the university—including the development of the world’s first stable multilayer electrolyzer architecture—the scientific team will investigate advanced cathode designs. Experimental configurations will include self-supporting catalyst layers and catalyst layers deposited directly onto ion-exchange membranes to analyze how structural porosity and polymer additives influence overall durability. The project has been awarded approximately 399 million HUF in funding through the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund to build a comprehensive knowledge base that bridges the gap between laboratory success and real-world industrial application.
Source: University of Szeged
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