Carbon sequestration, though crucial to reducing CO2 in the atmosphere, also holds further promise—that the carbon might be utilized in place of fossil fuels to produce fuels, valuable chemicals, and plastics. This could take place by converting CO2 into carbon monoxide, a valuable chemical precursor. Decarbonizing the chemical industry holds huge promise, and the market for such utilization products could be massive. Yet a lack of practical catalysts is slowing development. Biological systems can lower the energy required to facilitate a chemical reaction with electric fields; this project hypothesizes that an industrial catalyst could imitate this property. Thus, this research team is piecing iron, cobalt, carbon, and other atoms into novel molecules that could be the efficient, stable, and selective catalysts that a decarbonized chemical industry needs.
Participants
-
Nilay Hazari
Chair and John Randolph Huffman Professor of Chemistry
-
Mingjiang Zhong
Associate Professor of Chemical & Environmental Engineering
