A research team from Caltech and the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering has demonstrated a promising way to convert carbon dioxide into ethylene – a chemical used to produce plastics, solvents, cosmetics and other globally manufactured products.
The scientists developed nanoscale copper wires with specially shaped surfaces to catalyse a chemical reaction that reduces greenhouse gas emissions while generating ethylene. Computational studies of the reaction show the shaped catalysts favoured the production of ethylene over hydrogen or methane.
Yu-Huang, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at UCLA, said, “Developing materials that can efficiently turn greenhouse gases into value-added fuels and chemical feedstocks is a critical step to mitigate global warning while turning away from extracting increasingly limited fossil fuels.”
William Goddard, Caltech’s Charles and Mary Ferkel Professor of Chemistry, added, “The idea of using copper to catalyse this reaction has been around for a long time, but the key is to accelerate that rate, so it is fast enough for industrial production.”
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