Reusing Carbon Dioxide



Rising carbon dioxide emissions accelerate global warming and climate changes. Could scientists reuse excess carbon dioxide as a potential energy source? YES! 

Electrochemical reduction can be used to achieve this goal. It is a catalyst driven process. Carbon dioxide is changed into products like formic acid, ethanol, methane or carbon monoxide.  Certain barriers exist when attempting to upscale production to industry standards.The challenge with upscaling carbon dioxide is that the reaction to the reduction can lead to several potential outcomes. Scientists are studying reaction pathways, attempting to influence the specific products that will be formed. 

Research was published in Small Science on November 28, 2024. A team assembled from Tohoku University, Tokyo University of Science and Vanderbilt University. The scientists have begun using copper as a catalyst for electrochemical reduction. They attempted to control product’s specificity with this reduction. The structural architecture of the copper clusters was on the nanoscale. The team could shape the copper into nanoclusters under 2nm in diameter. This shaping of the copper improved the efficiency of the copper, and it’s use as a catalyst. 

Yuichi Negishi is a professor at Tohoku University's Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials (IMRAM). His team used specific active sites through defects in the cubic copper and were able to enhance the nanoclusters performance. The team dislocated some copper atoms. This prevented surface-protecting ligands from attaching, leaving certain spots exposed. These atoms appeared at the cube's corners and along its edges. The atoms formed a network of sites perfect for carbon dioxide reduction. The arrangement of copper atoms allowed the scientists to understand the reaction, improving the selectivity and efficiency of desired products.

Negishi summarizes, "Our research underscores the potential of copper nanoclusters as an affordable carbon dioxide reaction catalyst, highlighting how their structural design influence product selectivity."

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