Event Title
Development of a Novel Co Based Heterogeneous Catalyst for CO2 Conversion
Faculty Mentor
Cheng Zhang
Major/Area of Research
Chemistry
Description
Human beings need to reduce global warming and develop ways to have less reliance on fossil fuels. The primary objective of this project is to develop a novel Co based heterogeneous catalyst to enhance the catalytic conversion of CO2 by H2 for the synthesis of value-added chemicals such as CO, methanol, and fuels. The Co-based solution we developed can be tuned to be either acidic or basic to adapt to different catalyst support. The solution was characterized by Ultravioletvisible spectroscopy and two-adsorption bands were observed at 200 nm and 350 nm respectively indicating two Co species exist in the solution. The heterogeneous catalyst was synthesized on alumina support (acidic) and active carbon support (basic) via Wet Incipient Impregnation method. The synthesized catalyst is to be tested for CO2 hydrogenation at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL). Catalyst characterization such as Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) surface area, pore size and volume, Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), etc. will be carried out at BNL and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP, a top institute in Catalysis in China) with an aim to establish relationship between activity and properties. This fundamental study will serve as a good guidance to understand the reaction pathway of CO2 hydrogenation.
Development of a Novel Co Based Heterogeneous Catalyst for CO2 Conversion
Human beings need to reduce global warming and develop ways to have less reliance on fossil fuels. The primary objective of this project is to develop a novel Co based heterogeneous catalyst to enhance the catalytic conversion of CO2 by H2 for the synthesis of value-added chemicals such as CO, methanol, and fuels. The Co-based solution we developed can be tuned to be either acidic or basic to adapt to different catalyst support. The solution was characterized by Ultravioletvisible spectroscopy and two-adsorption bands were observed at 200 nm and 350 nm respectively indicating two Co species exist in the solution. The heterogeneous catalyst was synthesized on alumina support (acidic) and active carbon support (basic) via Wet Incipient Impregnation method. The synthesized catalyst is to be tested for CO2 hydrogenation at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL). Catalyst characterization such as Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) surface area, pore size and volume, Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), etc. will be carried out at BNL and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP, a top institute in Catalysis in China) with an aim to establish relationship between activity and properties. This fundamental study will serve as a good guidance to understand the reaction pathway of CO2 hydrogenation.