Description du projet
Des catalyseurs dopés au carbone permettent de transformer le CO2 en carburants et en produits chimiques
Selon les capteurs de l’observatoire du Mauna Loa à Hawaï, en 2019 et pour la première fois dans l’histoire de l’humanité, les niveaux de CO2 atmosphérique ont dépassé les 415,26 parties par million. La réduction électrochimique du CO2 apparait comme une voie potentielle pour éliminer ce gaz néfaste de l’atmosphère. Le projet DimerCat, financé par l’UE, étudiera la façon dont les catalyseurs au carbone dopés avec des dimères métalliques peuvent convertir efficacement le CO2 en produits chimiques et en carburants à base de carbone. Les catalyseurs à base de carbone sont choisis pour leur grande sélectivité vis-à-vis de la formation de CO, tandis que les dimères métalliques dopés devraient favoriser le couplage CO-CO, conduisant ainsi à la formation de produits C2, tels que l’éthène. Outre leur conception, le projet entend relever deux autres défis majeurs liés aux catalyseurs: leur sélectivité et leur production à grande échelle.
Objectif
For the first time in human’s history, the level of CO2 in the atmosphere has reached the highest level of 415.26 ppm on May 11, 2019. This results in severe climatic change throughout the world. Electrochemical CO2 reduction can convert this harmful CO2 to value-added carbon-based chemicals and is a carbon-neutral method of storing renewable electricity in the form of chemicals.
This proposal aims to investigate carbon catalysts doped with metal-dimers as catalysts for CO2 reduction to higher-carbon (C2) products. Carbon-based catalysts are selected because of their high selectivity towards CO formation and the doped metal dimers are expected to favor the CO-CO coupling leading to the formation of C2 products. This would emulate the functionality of the nitrogenase enzyme, where V-V dimers are able to catalyze the formation of ethylene and other C2 products. The world-leading expertise of Prof. Magda Titirici (host) and Dr. Ifan Stephens; and the vibrant scientific community and state-of-the-art equipment at Imperial College, provide the perfect environment to successfully host my project despite its challenging nature. The deep expertise I have acquired during my Ph.D. in nanosynthesis and in-situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy of electrocatalysts would strongly complement my hosts’ expertise in carbon synthesis and operando testing. The bottleneck in the catalytic cycle will be identified and addressed. This new fundamental understanding will not only empower the scientific community but also enable the development of efficient electrocatalyst for higher-carbon product formation during CO2 reduction. Secondment will be carried out at Johnson Matthey that would allow us to scale-up the technology, developed at Imperial. Thus, the proposed project will try to solve the three major challenges of catalyst design, selectivity, and scalability and would equip me with scientific, technical and managerial skills to become a leading independent researcher.
Champ scientifique
- natural scienceschemical sciencescatalysiselectrocatalysis
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsspectroscopyabsorption spectroscopy
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryaliphatic compounds
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsenzymes
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinateur
SW7 2AZ LONDON
Royaume-Uni