Posted December 02, 2018 08:15:53In a paper published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, researchers at the University of Wisconsin have shown that a Fe2O3 photocathode could be used to produce a new photocatalysis material based on a unique nanoparticle pattern.
“We have designed a nanoparticle that is highly efficient at reducing oxygen, which is a major limitation for metal-organic frameworks,” said lead author Alexander Kochel, an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the UW.
“Our nanoparticle structure has an exceptionally high electrical conductivity, which makes it an ideal candidate for photocatacetic processes.”
“We’ve found that we can effectively reduce oxygen by an average of 8.8 percent,” he said.
The research team has developed a catalyst that has a unique configuration of a nanoparticulate ring and a non-neptunized, non-finite metallic surface that facilitates the reduction of CO 2 and water.
This structure allows for efficient photocatting of carbon monoxide, a precursor to CO 2 .
The researchers have used this technique to develop a catalyst based on Fe2SO4 that can be used as a photocatolytic material.
The researchers found that the nanoparticles in this nanoparticle material can be directly used to generate CO 2 -reducing materials that can reduce the CO 2 to zero at a low cost.
The authors also used Fe2OH, a photocatholic compound, to produce Fe2SOH, which could be combined with Fe2OO, to make an efficient catalyst.
The researchers are now working on the development of a similar nanoparticle-based photocatatalyst for CO 2 reduction in MoO.
A similar process is also under development for CO, with the same potential for reducing CO to zero.
“The fact that we have a material that can directly use CO as a catalyst for CO reduction is exciting because it provides a novel pathway to develop novel, nonoxidative, CO-reducing catalysts,” Koche said.
“If you think about it, we can use Fe2CO 3 as an oxidizing agent to convert CO 2 into CO, which will also produce some of the desired catalytic activity.
That’s the main idea behind this nanoparticity.
This material could be useful for producing new catalysts that will convert CO to CO-based products, as well as producing other organic molecules,” he added.”
This is a new catalyst technology that we’ve been working on for many years,” said senior author Ananth Srivastava, an associate professor of chemical engineering at the university.
Explore further: ‘Celeron’ nanoparticles can reduce CO 2 in CO2-neutral materials
