Effects of Electric Field on Chemical Looping Combustion: A DFT Study of CO Oxidation on CuO (111) Surface

Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is a promising and novel technology for carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture with a relatively low energy consumption and cost. CuO, one of the most attractive oxygen carriers (OCs) for carbon dioxide (CO) oxidation, suffers from sintering and agglomeration during the reduction process. Applying an electric field (EF) may promote the CO oxidation process on the CuO surface, which could mitigate sintering and agglomeration by decreasing operating temperatures with negligible combustion efficiency loss. This study performs density functional theory (DFT) simulations to investigate the effects of EF on the oxidation of CO on the CuO (111) surface. The results indicate that both the orientation and strength of the EF can significantly affect the oxidation characteristics of CO on the CuO (111) surface such as total reaction energy, energy barriers of reactions, CO adsorption, and CO₂ desorption. For the first time, this study reveals the role of EF in enhancing CO oxidation through CLC processes via first-principle calculations. Such findings could provide new strategies to improve the performance of CLC processes.