Trade-off between redox potential and strength of electrochemical CO2 capture in quinones

Electrochemical carbon dioxide capture has recently emerged as a promising alternative approach to conventional energy-intensive carbon capture methods. A common electrochemical capture approach is to employ redox-active molecules such as quinones. Upon electrochemical reduction, quinones become activated for the capture of CO2 through a chemical reaction. A key disadvantage of this method is the possibility of side-reactions with oxygen, which is present in almost all gas mixtures of interest for carbon capture. This issue can potentially be mitigated by fine-tuning redox potentials through the introduction of electron-withdrawing groups on the quinone ring. In this article, we investigate the thermodynamics of the electron transfer and chemical steps of CO2 capture in different quinone derivatives with a range of substituents. By combining density functional theory calculations and cyclic voltammetry experiments, we support a previously described trade-off between redox potentials and the strength of CO2 capture. We show that redox potentials can readily be tuned to more positive values to impart stability to oxygen, but as a consequence, significant decreases in CO2 binding free energies are observed. Our calculations support this effect for a large series of anthraquinones and benzoquinones, with different trade-off relationships observed for the two classes of molecules. These trade-offs must be taken into consideration for the design of improved redox-active molecules for electrochemical CO2 capture.