What process managers need to know about tincone films for CCU fuels

Are we on the cusp of a phase-change in petrochemicals? Here’s how process monitoring professionals can up-skill for the emergence of hybrid thin films in carbon utilization systems. 

By Jed Thomas

Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) is gaining traction as a serious contender in the global effort to manage industrial CO₂ emissions.  

While many CCU approaches remain confined to research labs or pilot-scale tests, materials breakthroughs are beginning to close the gap between proof of concept and plant-floor deployment.  

One such advancement—metalcone thin films, and specifically mild-annealed tincone—may bring CCU technology within range of integration into petrochemical workflows. 

For instrumentation and process monitoring professionals, this is a space worth watching.  

Not only because these systems could eventually enter your scope of responsibility, but because they involve hybrid chemistries, new electrochemical interfaces, and unique stability challenges that will require updated strategies for detection, diagnostics, and control. 

What is a tincone film? 

Metalcones are a class of hybrid materials combining inorganic metal oxides (e.g., SnO₂, Al₂O₃) with organic linkers that provide enhanced charge transport.  

Developed via molecular layer deposition (MLD), these thin films offer atomic-scale control over layer composition—a property that's important in photoelectrochemical systems where interfacial charge behavior is critical. 

In a recent study, published by NC State and UNC Chapel Hill, researchers focused on tincone, a tin oxide-based hybrid film.¹  

The innovation lies in how these reseachers improved its operational stability in aqueous environments—a known Achilles' heel of metalcones due to the water-solubility of their organic components.  

By applying mild annealing at 250 °C, they retained enough of the hybrid structure to preserve electrical properties while dramatically increasing resistance to dissolution. 

This balance is vital for process integration. High-temperature annealing (500 °C+) improves structural durability but burns off the organic elements that make the material electrochemically effective.  

The mild-annealed tincone, in contrast, preserves performance and extends lifespan in wet, reactive environments—making it a promising candidate for CO₂ electroreduction systems operating under aqueous or humid conditions. 

What does this mean for process monitoring and instrumentation? 

For those in process monitoring and control, this class of material introduces new sensing and diagnostic challenges: 

• Hybrid interfacial layers: With both organic and inorganic components in play, these films require novel strategies for performance tracking. Traditional oxide-based film diagnostics may not tell the full story—especially when failure is driven by organic linker degradation. 

• Electrochemical signatures: These materials show unique charge transfer profiles under light and voltage bias, which will affect how operators interpret real-time PEC signals or sensor feedback. Understanding how mild annealing changes surface states could be crucial for tuning in-line diagnostics. 

• Moisture sensitivity: While mild annealing boosts aqueous stability, tincone is still a hybrid. Condensation, pH shifts, and electrolyte contamination may influence degradation pathways differently than pure metal oxides. Continuous monitoring for early failure indicators will need to account for these variables. 

• Integration with silicon: Tincone was tested as a protective charge transport layer on p-type silicon photocathodes—a potential future-facing material pairing in light-driven CCU reactors. Sensor networks and process logic might need to accommodate semiconductor-photochemical hybrid devices, which blend electrical and chemical characteristics in ways that don’t fit neatly into today’s instrumentation categories. 

Conversion performance of tincone films 

In testing, the mild-annealed tincone layer delivered 20x more carbon monoxide (CO) during CO₂ electroreduction in a KHCO₃ electrolyte under sunlight simulation compared to high-temp annealed controls.  

Importantly, this was achieved without sacrificing faradaic efficiency—a signal of both reaction selectivity and charge transport integrity. 

For operators monitoring a CCU system in the future, this means more predictable and efficient fuel output per unit of energy input, with fewer false positives or unpredictable material degradation pathways.  

CO is a key intermediate toward methanol or synthetic hydrocarbons, making this result relevant to any future hybrid electrolyzer reactors that aim to plug into the downstream petrochemical chain. 

How instrument users can up-skill to meet this challenge 

1. Stay sharp on hybrid materials: Expect more process interfaces combining organic and inorganic materials, especially where electronic and chemical properties need to be tightly coupled. This will require familiarity with both chemical and solid-state sensing tools. 

2. Revise degradation models: These systems won’t follow the same wear-and-tear profiles as all-metal components. Corrosion modeling, lifetime prediction, and in-situ integrity monitoring will need to expand to cover electrochemical and photochemical wear. 

3. Understand low-voltage PEC systems: Tincone’s role in photoelectrochemical CO₂ reduction means you may soon be monitoring processes that use sunlight and small voltage biases—not thermal cracking or high-voltage electrolysis. This represents a paradigm shift in how energy is delivered and tracked. 

4. Follow the CHASE initiative: The U.S. Department of Energy-funded CHASE (Center for Hybrid Approaches in Solar Energy to Liquid Fuels) is a major driver in this space (source). Their developments are likely to shape the next wave of CCU pilot programs. Early engagement could offer a chance to pilot instrumentation packages tailored to these emerging systems. 

5. Anticipate integration with hydrogen systems: CO₂ reduction often pairs with green hydrogen or water-splitting technologies, requiring synchronization between gas, liquid, and electrochemical data streams. Interfacing multiple process types will require multi-signal, multi-environment compatibility—an area where skilled instrumentation teams will be vital. 

Moving from lab to plant 

While full-scale industrial deployment is still on the horizon, this work on mild-annealed tincone thin films points to a future in which thin-film hybrid materials form the backbone of CO₂-to-fuel systems.  

For the petrochemical sector, the opportunity is twofold: help scale these innovations with robust monitoring and control strategies—and evolve internal skillsets to be ready for a hybrid materials future. 

As carbon pricing, regulatory frameworks, and customer demand align around decarbonization, CCU won’t just be a lab curiosity. It’ll be a production line—and instrumentation professionals will be essential in making it work. 

¹ Mild-Annealed Molecular Layer Deposition (MLD) Tincone Thin Film as Photoelectrochemically Stable and Efficient Electron Transport Layer for Si Photocathodes. Yang et al. ACS Applied Energy Materials. 2024.