Grants and Contributions

CO2 electrolysis is a promising energy storage technology that uses renewable electricity to convert CO2 into valuable fuels and chemicals. Commercializing CO2 electrolyzers requires the development and optimization of new materials, such as membranes and electrocatalysts. Today, these materials are typically tested in isolation under conditions that are much different than that of an actual electrolyzer (wherein catalysts on gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) are interfaced with membranes in a membrane electrode assembly (MEA)). As a result of this non-representative testing methodology, seemingly promising material candidates may fail to exhibit high performance once integrated into an electrolyzer. MEAs can be tested in benchtop reactors, however existing benchtop approaches for screening materials are inefficient and labour-intensive. The Recipient proposes to circumvent these challenges by designing and building a robotics-based materials acceleration platform (MAP) for MEA development. This MAP will robotically fabricate and characterize GDEs before transferring them to a semi-automated, high-throughput electrochemical testing station where the GDEs will be integrated into MEAs and tested under conditions representative of an operating electrolyzer. To further increase platform productivity, machine learning algorithms will be employed to automatically analyze experimental data and design highly-informative follow-up experiments. This combination of experimental automation and artificial intelligence will result in an autonomous platform for accelerating the development of new, scaleable, and industrially-relevant materials for CO2 applications.

This proposed research is focused on the study and development of anion exchange membranes (AEMs) for high-performance CO2 electrolyzers based on polymers invented at SFU, with Ionomr Innovations Inc. acting as a pipeline to commercialization. These polymers and membranes possess high anionic conductivity and very high, state-of-the-art, chemical and mechanical stability. These solid polymer electrolytes have been demonstrated in fuel cells and water electrolyzers but in order to integrate the materials into electrolytic CO2 devices they must be chemically and physically tailored for the specific application of CO2 reduction, as both membrane and ionomer in the catalyst layer possess differentiated requirements from either of the original applications. SFU will work in partnership with Ionomr to prepare novel anion conducting polymers and to incorporate them into different support substrates to prepare robust membranes of suitable quality for piloting and commercial deployment of CO2 electrolyzer units. SFU and Ionomr will partner with NRC to integrate solid polymer electrolyte membranes into CO2 electrolytic devices in order demonstrate anion-exchange membranes that promote high efficiency, high durability CO2 electrolysis for carbon capture and valorization.

This proposed research is focused on the study and development of anion and proton exchange membranes (AEMs and PEMs) for high-performance CO2 electrolyzers based on polymers invented at SFU, with Ionomr Innovations Inc. acting as a pipeline to commercialization. These polymers and membranes possess high anionic conductivity and very high, state-of-the-art, chemical and mechanical stability. These solid polymer electrolytes have been demonstrated in fuel cells and water electrolyzers but in order to integrate the materials into electrolytic CO2 devices they must be chemically and physically tailored for the specific application of CO2 reduction, as both membrane and ionomer in the catalyst layer possess differentiated requirements from either of the original applications. SFU will work in partnership with Ionomr to prepare novel anion conducting polymers and to incorporate them into different support substrates to prepare robust membranes of suitable quality for piloting and commercial deployment of CO2 electrolyzer units. SFU and Ionomr will partner with NRC to integrate solid polymer electrolyte membranes into CO2 electrolytic devices in order demonstrate anion-exchange membranes that promote high efficiency, high durability CO2 electrolysis for carbon capture and valorization.

MagnetTx Oncology Solutions is developing a hybrid radiotherapy device that combines a medical linear accelerator with an MRI scanner to produce the ultimate radiotherapy treatment device. This project will develop the imaging software tools required to integrate the MR images into the treatment sequence to allow pretreatment images to be compared to treatment planning images to allow the patient to be precisely positioned for their treatment.

The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) is a 3.6 meter optical/infrared telescope, located atop the summit of Mauna kea, a 4200 meter, dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii. The CFHT is designed to collect optical and infrared electromagnetic radiation. The CFHT Observatory, consisting of the telescope and its facilities, is jointly funded and operated by Canada, France and the State of Hawaii.

Hierarchical Vectoriser (H.Vec) is a multi task prediction model that provides multilayer representation of medical events. The objective of the hierarchical vectorizer is to improve predictive accuracy of Lydia AI by learning complex features at different levels and how these features interrelate.

Not a Project (Mandated or Core Funding)

Not a Project (Mandated or Core Funding)

Not a Project (Mandated or Core Funding)

Not a Project (Mandated or Core Funding)