The increasing demand for sustainable chemical production due to strict regulations for carbon emission aligns with growing availability of solar and wind energy, making electrochemical manufacturing a viable route toward decarbonized chemical syntheses. Electrodes with gas diffusion layers (GDLs) critically enhance reaction efficiency for continuous-flow electrochemical reactors with liquid electrolytes fed with gaseous reactants, but they currently suffer from challenges like electrolyte flooding and poor long-term stability. Porous polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane-based GDLs overcome some of these issues, but they require additional functionality to enable conductivity. Herein, we demonstrate a novel GDL structure, introducing a porous conductive polymer, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), onto a porous PTFE membrane. Compared to a carbon-based GDL, the PEDOT-coated PTFE GDL exhibited similar electrochemical performance with enhanced stability under industrially relevant conditions for the CO₂ reduction reaction. PEDOT-coated PTFE GDL demonstrates remarkable resistance to electrolyte flooding, making it a promising candidate for various gas-fed electrocatalytic reactions.

中文翻译：

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导电聚合物在电化学应用中将疏水性多孔膜转化为坚固的气体扩散层


由于严格的碳排放法规，对可持续化学品生产的需求不断增长，这与太阳能和风能的可用性不断增长相一致，这使得电化学制造成为实现脱碳化学合成的可行途径。带有气体扩散层 （GDL） 的电极极大地提高了使用气态反应物进料的液体电解质的连续流电化学反应器的反应效率，但它们目前面临电解质泛滥和长期稳定性差等挑战。基于多孔聚四氟乙烯 （PTFE） 膜的 GDL 克服了其中的一些问题，但它们需要额外的功能来实现导电性。在这里，我们展示了一种新颖的 GDL 结构，将多孔导电聚合物聚（3,4-乙烯二氧噻吩）（PEDOT）引入多孔 PTFE 膜上。与碳基 GDL 相比，PEDOT 涂层的 PTFE GDL 表现出相似的电化学性能，并且在 CO₂ 还原反应的工业相关条件下具有增强的稳定性。PEDOT 涂层的 PTFE GDL 表现出卓越的抗电解质泛滥能力，使其成为各种气体进料电催化反应的有前途的候选者。