New materials turn carbon dioxide into clean fuel
Recently, scientists have developed a new type of material made of cobalt that can convert carbon dioxide gas to formate, a combustible fuel that does not produce toxic by-products, and can also be used as a clean energy source. use. It is understood that this material was developed by researchers from China and it can be used to deal with the 3.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide gas released into the atmosphere by humans each year due to the use of chemical fuels.
For decades, scientists have been looking for energy-efficient ways to convert carbon dioxide into something useful. After testing, the researchers said that this new material is one of the most promising options we have seen to date to achieve this goal.
Karthish Manthiram, a chemical engineer from Caltech who did not participate in the study, told Mass Machine: "This is a major scientific breakthrough. Although it takes a very long time before it is commercialized, it is currently The development of this stage is positive and optimistic from any angle."
This material group is as thick as the last 4 atoms and consists of an ultra-thin layer of pure cobalt metal and cobalt oxide. After it has undergone an electrolytic reduction process, a small current changes the molecular structure of carbon dioxide through this material, producing a clean fuel at a time.
When current is applied to this cobalt nanomaterial, the molecules inside the material will interact with carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules passing through it, which will cause the hydrogen atoms to attach to carbon dioxide carbon atoms, prompting an additional Electrons enter one of the oxygen atoms. The carbon dioxide then becomes CHOO-, the formate.
Laboratory tests have confirmed that this material can maintain a stable current density of 10 mA/cm2 for more than 40 hours and its overvoltage is only 0.24 volts. Perhaps we do not know what this overvoltage represents, but for scientists, achieving this figure is not an easy task. When electro-reducing carbon dioxide, the lower the overvoltage, the better. This is why the previous experiments failed to succeed.
Karthish Manthiram said that he is also conducting research on electrolytic reduction of carbon dioxide, he told the "mass machinery", this new material can not only maintain a very low over-voltage, to achieve high production of formate, but also to ensure adequate stability. He said: "The material that satisfies these three conditions is very rare and it has the best material we have seen so far."
The research team from the Hefei National Physical Science Laboratory described this special material in Nature. Their next step will demonstrate how to commercialize this material. In this way, we can turn carbon dioxide, which floats in the atmosphere and causes us trouble, into clean fuel.
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