Enhancing the capacity of supercapacitive swing adsorption CO₂ capture by tuning charging protocols

Supercapacitive swing adsorption (SSA) is a recently discovered electrochemically driven CO₂ capture technology that promises significant efficiency improvements over traditional methods. A limitation of this approach is the relatively low CO₂ adsorption capacity, and the underlying molecular mechanisms of SSA remain poorly understood, hindering optimization. Here we present a new device architecture for simultaneous electrochemical and gas-adsorption measurements, and use it to investigate the effects of charging protocols on SSA performance. We show that altering the voltage applied to charge the SSA device can significantly improve performance. Charging the gas-exposed electrode positively rather than negatively increases CO₂ adsorption capacity and causes CO₂ desorption rather than adsorption with charging. We also show that switching the voltage between positive and negative values further increases CO₂ capacity. Previously proposed mechanisms of the SSA effect fail to explain these phenomena, so we present a new mechanism based on movement of CO₂-derived species into and out of electrode micropores. Overall, this work advances our knowledge of electrochemical CO₂ adsorption by supercapacitors, potentially leading to devices with increased uptake capacity and efficiency.