Organic electrosynthesis can transform the chemical industry by introducing electricity-driven processes that are more energy efficient and that can be easily integrated with renewable energy sources. However, their deployment is severely hindered by the difficulties of controlling selectivity and achieving a large energy conversion efficiency at high current density due to the low solubility of organic reactants in practical electrolytes. This control can be improved by carefully balancing the mass transport processes and electrocatalytic reaction rates at the electrode diffusion layer through pulsed electrochemical methods. In this study, we explore these methods in the context of the electrosynthesis of adiponitrile (ADN), the largest organic electrochemical process in industry. Systematically exploring voltage pulses in the timescale between 5 and 150 ms led to a 20% increase in production of ADN and a 250% increase in relative selectivity with respect to the state-of-the-art constant voltage process.

The chemical and allied industries face such challenges as ready access to reliable energy supplies, waste reduction, water conservation, and energy efficiency. Organic electrosynthesis--an electricity-driven, energy-efficient process that can easily integrate with renewable energy sources--could help solve them. A team at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering reported that in its search to develop an innovative, environmentally friendly process to make adiponitrile (ADN) - the main precursor to nylon 6, 6--it found a way to greatly improve the efficiency of organic electrosynthesis. The researchers credited their success in part to what they believe is the first use of artificial intelligence to optimize an electrochemical process. Miguel Modestino, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and doctoral student Daniela Blanco tweaked how electrical current is delivered to catalytic electrodes and then applied artificial intelligence (AI) to further optimize the reaction.