Petra Horáková

Czech Technical University in Prague / Electrochemical CO2 Reduction

Advisor: Prof. Martin Novák

Petra Horáková engineers silver nanocatalyst gas diffusion electrodes for the electrochemical reduction of CO₂ to carbon monoxide — a two-electron, highly selective process that can feed CO into established Fischer-Tropsch and methanol synthesis chains. At Czech Technical University's Department of Inorganic Chemistry, supervised by Prof. Martin Novák, she has developed an electrodeposition protocol that grows dendritic silver nanostructures directly onto a carbon paper gas diffusion layer with a tunable mean feature size of 8–25 nm. Online gas chromatography product quantification during potentiostatic electrolysis in 1 M KHCO₃ electrolyte confirms a Faradaic efficiency for CO production of 94% at −0.8 V vs. RHE and a partial current density for CO of 180 mA/cm² — sufficient for the preliminary costing models of a 50 kW CO₂ electrolyser to show a path to profitable operation under Central European electricity pricing. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy reveals that the optimal dendritic structure minimises the electron-transfer resistance while the three-phase boundary area of the gas diffusion electrode maximises CO₂ mass transport. A collaboration with Orion Engineering's Czech electrolyser project provides engineering design input for the stack assembly, and Petra is actively applying to electrolysis startup roles in the Prague–Vienna deep-tech corridor.