Keeping carbon dioxide produced by industrial facilities out of the atmosphere while converting it into useful raw materials for the chemical industry – this is the climate-relevant and commercially promising objective pursued by researchers at the University of Szeged. The ambitious project, which also received the University’s Innovation Award, has demonstrated that cobalt oxide can successfully replace iridium as an anode catalyst in CO₂ electrolysis. This represents a significant advance, as iridium is not only extremely expensive but also scarce. The research team is now working to further improve the efficiency of the process by incorporating additional transition metals.
Dealing with climate change remains one of humanity’s greatest challenges, driven in part by the steadily rising concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere – a trend closely linked to human activity, especially the use of fossil fuels and their combustion. At the same time, the electrochemical conversion of CO₂ presents a dual opportunity: it can help reduce emissions from industrial sources while also generating valuable raw materials for the chemical industry.
In recent years, electrolysis-based CO₂ conversion has attracted increasing attention. This reflects both a growing public awareness of the climate impact of rising atmospheric CO₂ levels and the expanding availability of low-cost, clean electricity made possible by the wider adoption of renewable energy sources. Although laboratory-scale electrolyzer cells can already convert CO₂ into useful chemical products – such as ethylene, carbon monoxide, and formic acid – the large-scale industrial deployment of this technology is still in its early stages.
“One of the key challenges is that electrolyzer cells currently rely on iridium as a catalyst,” said Dr. Attila Kormányos, research fellow at the Department of Physical Chemistry and Materials Science at the University of Szeged’s Faculty of Science and Informatics. “Iridium is an extremely rare metal, with annual global production amounting to only a few tons, which makes it exceptionally expensive. In fact, the catalyst alone can account for as much as half of the total production cost of an electrolyzer. Our research group, led by Dr. Csaba Janáky, has been working on CO₂ electrolysis for more than a decade. Over the past three to four years, we have increasingly focused on alternative anode catalysts that could replace iridium. For the past two years, we have been studying cobalt oxide in particular. One of the main difficulties is that, because of its semiconductor properties, cobalt oxide is significantly less active in the electrolysis process than iridium. Even so, we have succeeded in developing a synthesis method that can partially overcome the limitations associated with its less favorable properties.”
Dr. Attila Kormányos, research fellow at the Department of Physical Chemistry and Materials Science, Faculty of Science and Informatics, University of Szeged
Last year, the Szeged-based research team published their findings in leading international scientific journals, and their study Application of Co3O4 as anode catalyst in CO₂ electrolyzer cells was honored with the SZTE Innovation Prize for Most Innovative Research in Physical Sciences at the University’s 2025 Innovation Day.
The research is now entering its next phase. According to Dr. Attila Kormányos, the team is currently working to modify the structure of cobalt oxide by incorporating various transition metals, with the aim of enhancing both catalytic activity and long-term stability. This is particularly important because, although cobalt is far more abundant than iridium – with annual production reaching several hundred thousand tons – it is also a key raw material in battery manufacturing. As a result, with global demand for batteries continuing to rise, cobalt prices are increasing rapidly as well.
“We have already achieved promising results in this area, although the work is still in the testing phase,” added Dr. Attila Kormányos. “If we succeed in developing a cobalt-oxide catalyst modified with transition metals that approaches the activity and stability of iridium, then – thanks to the synthesis method we have developed – the process could be scaled up relatively quickly, along with the size of the electrolyzer cell. Fortunately, the Energy Innovation Test Station at the University of Szeged Science Park provides an outstanding environment for validation at a relevant scale. We expect that within roughly two years we may reach the stage of on-site testing with a fully functional system, representing an important step between laboratory research and industrial pilot applications. From there, the path leads toward real-world industrial deployment – bringing the prospect of cleaner, more sustainable chemical production one step closer.”
Source: SZTEinfo
Photo by István Sahin-Tóth
