PhD Defense: Kim Robert Gustavsen

Kim Robert Gustavsen is defending his thesis in applied micro and nano systems. His objective has been to create new and efficient catalysts for the electrochemical reduction of CO2.

05 Apr

Practical information

  • Date: 5 April 2024
  • Time: 10.00 - 15.00
  • Location: Vestfold, Campus Vestfold, A1-36
  • Download calendar file

    • Program

    Kl. 10.00 Trial lecture: "Photochemical/photoelectrochemical water splitting with using semiconductive oxides -process basics, equipment solutions and prospects"

    Kl. 12.00 PhD Defense: Enhanced Electrochemical CO2 Reduction through Nanostructuring and Light Element Modification


    Evaluation comittee

    • First opponent: Professor Antoni Morawski, WPUT, Poland.
    • Second opponent: Ph.d.  Athanasios Chatzitakis, Univerisity of Oslo.
    • Administrator: Associate Professor, Hamed Salmani, Universitety of South-Eastern Norway.

    Supervisors

     

Kim Robert Gustavsen is defending his thesis for the degree philosophiae doctor (PhD) at the University of South-Eastern Norway.

The doctoral work has been carried out at the Faculty of Technology, Natural Sciences and Maritime Sciences in the program Applied Micro og Nanosystems.

Welcome to follow the trial lecture and the public defence.

Kim Robert Gustavsen

 

Summary

The increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere pose a big challenge for our society and the climate. It's crucial to develop and use eco-friendly energy technologies to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. An example of such technology is the electrochemical reduction of CO2, offering the potential to reduce CO2 emissions and efficiently store energy, especially when integrated with renewable sources like wind and solar power. To optimize this process, appropriate catalysts are necessary, capable of selectively producing reaction products while requiring minimal energy. 

Hence, the objective of this project was to create new and efficient catalysts for the electrochemical reduction of CO2, employing nanostructuring and incorporating light elements to boost their catalytic performance. To assess the effectiveness of the proposed catalysts, a reactor was constructed to conduct the electrochemical CO2 reduction and measure the resulting gaseous products (H2, CO, CH4, C2H4).

Three different catalyst designs are presented in this work, each with its unique application.

  • In the first design a simplified process for creating high density nanoneedle structures on the surface of copper (Cu) foils is developed. The resulting catalyst shows superior performance compared to the regular Cu foil, shifting the gas production from methane to the more desirable ethylene.
     
  • The second design features silver-carbon (Ag-C) thin films consisting of a porous surface that results in large surface areas and superior catalytic activity. These catalysts are promising for synthetic gas production (mixture of H2 and CO in specific ratios) since the concentration of C and the potential applied to the catalyst can control the amount of H2 produced from water splitting and CO produced from CO2.
     
  • In the last design boron (B) is used as a modifier in Ag to achieve a ~98% efficiency for CO2 reduction to CO. Structural analysis reveals “nano-tentacle” structures on the surface, and the improved catalytic properties is attributed to twinned crystal growth and inclusion of B, which reduces the energy required for reducing CO2 to CO.