Fossil fuels have been the principal energy source for society and the feedstock for synthetic chemistry for the past century. Unfortunately, their large-scale use has boosted the atmospheric CO2 concentration to a level that is unprecedented in modern geological history. Controlling the CO2 concentration may ultimately require recycling CO2 into fuel using renewable energy. Arguably the greatest challenge for this vision is to develop efficient CO2 reduction catalysts. This talk will describe heterogeneous catalysts discovered in our lab that electrochemically convert CO2 into simple carbon building blocks with exceptionally high energetic efficiency under ambient conditions. The catalysts are prepared by reducing thick metal oxide precursors to form metallic nanoparticles. The oxide reduction process kinetically traps catalytically active surfaces. Mechanistic features that distinguish these �oxide-derived metal nanoparticles� from other known CO2 reduction catalysts will be described. In addition, their use in other transformations relevant to replacing fossil fuels will be discussed.

Heterogeneous catalysts for synthesizing fuel from carbon dioxide, water, and renewable energy

245th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.