A team of scientists has created a bowl-shaped electrode with 'hot edges' which can efficiently convert CO2 from gas into carbon based fuels and chemicals, helping combat the climate change threat posed by atmospheric carbon dioxide.

The research team, from the University of Bath, Fudan University, Shanghai, and the Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, hopes the catalyst design will eventually allow the use of renewable electricity to convert CO2 into fuels without creating additional atmospheric carbon - essentially acting like an electrochemical 'leaf' to convert carbon dioxide into sugars.

Using this reaction, known as the reduction of carbon dioxide, has exciting potential but two major obstacles are poor conversion efficiency of the reaction and a lack of detailed knowledge about the exact reaction pathway.

This new electrode addresses these challenges with higher conversion efficiency and sensitive detection of molecules created along the reaction's progress - thanks to its innovative shape and construction. The bowl shaped electrode works six times faster than standard planar - or flat - designs.

The bowl-like shape of the design, technically known as an "inverse opal structure" concentrates electric fields on its hot edges - the rim of the bowl - which then concentrates positively charged potassium ions on the active sites of the reaction, reducing its energy requirements.

The Copper-Indium alloy electrode can also be useful to sensitively study the reaction process via measuring the Raman signal, which is higher compared to a typical electrode.

Professor Ventsislav Valev, from the University of Bath's Department of Physics, said: "There is no more pressing human need than breathing. Yet for hundreds of million people this most basic activity is a source of anxiety over lowering life expectancy, rising child mortality and climate change. There is evidence that CO2 increases surface ozone, carcinogens, and particulate matter, thereby increasing death, asthma, hospitalization, and cancer rates. It is therefore crucial to keep researching new ways for lowing the CO2 levels in the atmosphere."

The team wants to continue research to develop the most efficient catalyst to perform carbon reduction.

Professor Liwu Zhang, from Fudan University, said: "CO2 is causing climate change, making our planet warmer. By using clean electricity, we can convert CO2 into chemical fuels, which can be used again. This builds a cycle of CO2, with no increment of CO2 concentration and will help save our world.

"However, to improve the efficiency of transforming CO2 into chemical fuels, it is extremely important to know the reaction pathway, and find the most suitable catalyst.

"Just as plants transform CO2 into sugar we are finding suitable electrochemical 'leaf' for CO2 conversion."

"Hot edges" in an inverse opal structure enable e?cient CO2 electrochemical reduction and sensitive in situ Raman characterization"

The study is published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

Research paper

Related Links
University of Bath
Bio Fuel Technology and Application News

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Methane-consuming bacteria could be the future of fuel
Evanston IL (SPX) May 10, 2019
Known for their ability to remove methane from the environment and convert it into a usable fuel, methanotrophic bacteria have long fascinated researchers. But how, exactly, these bacteria naturally perform such a complex reaction has been a mystery. Now an interdisciplinary team at Northwestern University has found that the enzyme responsible for the methane-methanol conversion catalyzes this reaction at a site that contains just one copper ion. This finding could lead to newly designed, hu ... read more