Turning CO2 into liquid fuels
Event details
| Date | 27.06.2013 |
| Hour | 16:15 › 17:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Matthew Kanan, Stanford University |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
The longstanding reliance on fossil fuels as the principal energy source for society has boosted the atmospheric CO2 concentration to a level that is unprecedented in modern geological history. Since the use of carbon-containing fuels is entrenched in society, controlling the atmospheric CO2 concentration may ultimately require recycling CO2 into liquid fuels and commodity chemicals using renewable energy inputs. Arguably the greatest challenge for this vision is to develop efficient CO2 reduction catalysts. This talk will describe our recent development of “oxide-derived” metal nanoparticles as electroreduction catalysts. Oxide-derived metal nanoparticles are prepared by electrochemically reducing metal oxide precursors. This procedure results in highly strained metal nanocrystals. I will describe examples of these catalysts that electrochemically reduce CO2 to CO with exceptional energetic efficiency as well as a catalyst that selectively reduces CO to two-carbon oxygenates. The mechanisms of CO2 and CO reduction will be discussed based on electrokinetic measurements. Metal oxide reduction represents a “top-down” approach to metal nanoparticle synthesis that can result in unique surface structures for catalysis.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Prof. Xile Hu, LSCI