Invited Paper EN+AS+PS-TuA1
Turning CO₂ into Liquid Fuel

Tuesday, October 29, 2013, 2:00 pm, Room 101 A

The longstanding reliance on fossil fuels as the principal energy source for society has boosted the atmospheric CO₂ concentration to a level that is unprecedented in modern geological history. Since the use of carbon-containing fuels is entrenched in society, controlling the atmospheric CO₂ concentration may ultimately require recycling CO₂ into liquid fuels and commodity chemicals using renewable energy inputs. Arguably the greatest challenge for this vision is to develop efficient CO₂ reduction catalysts. This talk will describe our development of “oxide-derived” metal nanoparticles as electroreduction catalysts. Oxide-derived metal nanoparticles are prepared by electrochemically reducing metal oxide precursors. This procedure results in highly strained metal nanocrystals, as determined by grazing incidence synchrotron x-ray diffraction. I will describe examples of these catalysts that electrochemically reduce CO₂ to CO with exceptional energetic efficiency as well as a catalyst that selectively reduces CO to two-carbon oxygenates. The catalysts operate in water at ambient temperature and pressure and are remarkably robust. The reduction mechanisms will be discussed based on electrokinetic measurements. Metal oxide reduction represents a “top-down” approach to metal nanoparticle synthesis that can result in unique surface structures for catalysis.