{"id":125533,"date":"2023-04-21T07:20:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T05:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=125533"},"modified":"2023-04-18T10:20:52","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T08:20:52","slug":"the-suite-of-substances-that-can-tackle-carbon-dioxide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/the-suite-of-substances-that-can-tackle-carbon-dioxide\/","title":{"rendered":"The suite of substances that can tackle carbon dioxide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n

One of the reasons carbon dioxide is such a problem is that it\u2019s very difficult to break down: the bonds in CO2<\/sub>molecules are very stable, and it\u2019s hard to find something that can slice them open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Credit: Anatoly Morozov \/ Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But if we can develop compounds that do cut up these inert bonds, CO2<\/sub> and other molecules that hang around in our atmosphere, like nitrogen (N2<\/sub>) and nitrogen oxides (NOx<\/sub>) could become valuable green feedstocks for the global chemical industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This could help the notoriously polluting industry become carbon-negative<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A team of Chinese researchers has come up with a suite of catalysts that can help to demolish these inert bonds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe chemical industry has played a crucial role in society\u2019s historical evolution, but it also presents emerging environmental concerns and skyrocketing CO2<\/sub>\u00a0emissions,\u201d says Professor Buxing Han, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences\u2019 Institute of Chemistry, and corresponding author on a paper describing their catalysts,\u00a0published<\/a> in\u00a0Industrial Chemistry & Materials<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were motivated to explore the possibilities of green chemistry and chemical engineering to transform renewable feedstocks, such as CO2<\/sub>\u00a0and NOx<\/sub>, into environmentally friendly chemicals, including syngas, hydrocarbons, oxygenates, and ammonia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0Dut55Z_uq8\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The researchers looked at substances called multicomponent electrocatalysts<\/em>: \u201celectrocatalysts\u201d prompt and speed up reactions with electricity, and those made of multiple components tend to be more stable and efficient than single-component catalysts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe wanted to explore electrochemical conversion as a universal carbon-neutral route to efficiently upgrade green chemical sources with inert bonds to chemicals and fuels under ambient conditions harnessing clean energy,\u201d says co-corresponding author Professor Xiaofu Sun, also at the Chinese Academy of Sciences\u2019 Institute of Chemistry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe developed three models for multicomponent catalysts: Type I, Type II, and Type III, which we discuss in our paper.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Type I catalysts are made of a catalytic part, and another component that protects or activates it. Type II are made of several catalysts, which provide several steps for a reaction to take place. Type III have one component which is a substrate: something for the catalyst, and the inert molecules, to land on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach of these models has its own advantages and disadvantages, depending on the specific reaction and catalyst,\u201d says Han.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe explored the use of these models in our paper to show their effectiveness in the electroreduction of small molecules.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also discuss where chemists should be investigating next, to get these catalysts from the lab into the chemical industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne key challenge is improving the selectivity and efficiency of the electrocatalysts, as well as increasing their stability and activity,\u201d says Sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chemists also don\u2019t know exactly how<\/em> all these catalysts work yet, at a molecular level \u2013 just that they seem to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMore importantly, there is a need for further research and development to scale up and integrate these electrochemical processes into industrial applications. Many promising research projects are undergoing in our lab,\u201d says Han.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the reasons carbon dioxide is such a problem is that it\u2019s very difficult to break down: the bonds in CO2molecules are very stable, and it\u2019s hard to find something that can slice them open. But if we can develop compounds that do cut up these inert bonds, CO2 and other molecules that hang around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Chemists are organising an arsenal of catalysts to suck up small, inert molecules.Chemists are organising an arsenal of catalysts to suck up small, inert molecules","footnotes":""},"categories":[5571],"tags":[10744,12535,10416,12518,10743],"supplier":[7471],"class_list":["post-125533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-co2-based","tag-carboncapture","tag-catalysts","tag-circulareconomy","tag-feedstocks","tag-useco2","supplier-chinese-academy-sciences"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125533\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125533"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=125533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}