As the cost of renewable energy drops and intermittency of its supply starts to limit market penetration, the production of chemicals and fuels from CO2 using renewable energy becomes economically feasible and useful for load balancing and energy storage. Thus, the development of sustainable reaction pathways to convert CO2 to chemicals and fuels using novel catalytic systems is one of the important challenges for carbon management. Most of the current studies on CO2 conversion to chemicals and fuels has focused on the development of catalysts. For example, there has been many studies and publications on novel catalysts for electrochemical reduction of CO2. Another challenge associated with electrochemical conversion of CO2 is the low CO2 solubility in reactive medium (electrolyte). Thus, there is an important need for the development of novel electrolyte that has high CO2 sorption capacity. Liquid-like Nanoparticle Organic Hybrid Materials (NOHMs) are an emerging class of self-suspended nanoparticles with high CO2 capture capacity, particularly when functionalized with amines. NOHMs comprise a polymeric canopy tethered to surface-modified nanoparticles and have great thermal stability and negligible vapor pressure. NOHMs can be designed with unique nanoscale structures to shape the way CO2 is incorporated into the NOHMs via entropic effects. We have been modifying NOHMs’ viscosity by adding a secondary fluid. We also recently discovered that NOHMs could be a novel electrolyte with high CO2 solubility. The preliminary synchrotron study at ANL has revealed that their unusually high conductivity may be due to a unique fractal structure exhibited by NOHMs in the bulk fluid. This suggests that NOHMs may effectively host both CO2 capture and conversion reactions. These dual-purpose materials will allow innovative reaction pathways and reduce the overall parasitic energy consumption.

Novel nanoscale hybrid materials for combined CO2 capture and conversion

254th National Meeting (2017)

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