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(Phys.org) —A team of researchers at the University of Delaware has developed a highly selective catalyst capable of electrochemically converting carbon dioxide—a greenhouse gas—to carbon monoxide with 92 percent efficiency. The carbon monoxide then can be used to develop useful chemicals.
The researchers recently reported their findings in Nature Communications.
"Converting carbon dioxide to useful chemicals in a selective and efficient way remains a major challenge in renewable and sustainable energy research," according to Feng Jiao, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and the project's lead researcher.
Co-authors on the paper include Qi Lu, a postdoctoral fellow, and Jonathan Rosen, a graduate student, working with Jiao.
The researchers found that when they used a nano-porous silver electrocatalyst, it was 3,000 times more active than polycrystalline silver, a catalyst commonly used in converting carbon dioxide to useful chemicals.
Silver is considered a promising material for a carbon dioxide reduction catalyst because of it offers high selectivity—approximately 81 percent—and because it costs much less than other precious metal catalysts. Additionally, because it is inorganic, silver remains more stable under harsh catalytic environments.
The exceptionally high activity, Jiao said, is likely due to the UD-developed electrocatalyst's extremely large and highly curved internal surface, which is approximately 150 times larger and 20 times intrinsically more active than polycrystalline silver.
Researchers report on new catalyst to convert greenhouse gases into chemicals
Researchers report on new catalyst to convert greenhouse gases into chemicals
(Phys.org) A team of researchers at the University of Delaware has developed a highly selective catalyst capable of electrochemically converting carbon dioxidea greenhouse gasto carbon monoxide with 92 percent efficiency. The carbon monoxide then can be used to develop useful chemicals.
The researchers recently reported their findings in Nature Communications.
"Converting carbon dioxide to useful chemicals in a selective and efficient way remains a major challenge in renewable and sustainable energy research," according to Feng Jiao, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and the project's lead researcher.
Co-authors on the paper include Qi Lu, a postdoctoral fellow, and Jonathan Rosen, a graduate student, working with Jiao.
The researchers found that when they used a nano-porous silver electrocatalyst, it was 3,000 times more active than polycrystalline silver, a catalyst commonly used in converting carbon dioxide to useful chemicals.
Silver is considered a promising material for a carbon dioxide reduction catalyst because of it offers high selectivityapproximately 81 percentand because it costs much less than other precious metal catalysts. Additionally, because it is inorganic, silver remains more stable under harsh catalytic environments.
The exceptionally high activity, Jiao said, is likely due to the UD-developed electrocatalyst's extremely large and highly curved internal surface, which is approximately 150 times larger and 20 times intrinsically more active than polycrystalline silver.
Warming deniers never wonder why, if an excess of carbon in the air was such a good thing, why did God or whoever cover the solid part of the earth with something to scrub carbon out of the air. And give back oxygen.
Warming deniers never wonder why, if an excess of carbon in the air was such a good thing, why did God or whoever cover the solid part of the earth with something to scrub carbon out of the air. And give back oxygen.
And there it is, folks!
Why, Mr SwimExpert is an athesist too! Hey, welcome to the crew.
One tool will help monitor deforestation and help enforce agreements to stop it. The other gives scientists the most detailed information ever on where carbon dioxide is coming from and where it is going. Deforestation accounts for between 10 and 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The draft Paris agreement backs programs that give financial rewards to successful efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, programs known as REDD. For those programs to work, "we need to know two things," said Scott Goetz, senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center. "We need to know how much carbon is in the forest and we need to know where the forests are being degraded," or lost.
3-D view
Satellite imagery is already used to monitor and curtail deforestation in places like Brazil. But those images only capture the forest canopy. A new instrument will map the forest in three dimensions. "It tells you how dense the canopy is and how complex it is," Goetz said. "The more complex, the higher the biomass is of the forest. Half of biomass is carbon."
An artist rendition of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, or OCO-2, that will help track where carbon dioxide is emitted and where it is taken up.
The instrument is called a Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) Lidar. It produces imagery using reflected laser light, the same way radar measures reflections of radio waves. It is slated for deployment on the International Space Station in early 2018. At the Paris climate conference, Goetz released a new study showing that the tools to make REDD work are available now, or soon will be. "The ability to measure and monitor emissions from deforestation is not a limitation to the implementation of REDD," he said.
Watching carbon move
