Long-forgotten equation provides new tool for converting carbon dioxide


Date:
April 6, 2023
Source:
Cornell University
Summary:
To manage atmospheric carbon dioxide and convert the gas into a
useful product, scientists have dusted off an archaic -- now 120
years old - - electrochemical equation.


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FULL STORY ==========================================================================
To manage atmospheric carbon dioxide and convert the gas into a useful
product, Cornell University scientists have dusted off an archaic --
now 120 years old - - electrochemical equation.


==========================================================================
The calculation -- named the Cottrell equation for chemist Frederick
Gardner Cottrell, who developed it in 1903 -- can help today's researchers understand the several reactions that carbon dioxide can take when electrochemistry is applied and pulsed on a lab bench.

The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide presents an opportunity
to transform the gas from an environmental liability to a feedstock for chemical products or as a medium to store renewable electricity in the
form of chemical bonds, as nature does.

Their work was published in the journal ACS Catalysis.

"For carbon dioxide, the better we understand the reaction pathways,
the better we can control the reaction -- which is what we want in the
long term," said lead author Rileigh Casebolt DiDomenico, a chemical engineering doctoral student at Cornell under the supervision of
Prof. Tobias Hanrath.

"If we have better control over the reaction, then we can make what we
want, when we want to make it," DiDomenico said. "The Cottrell equation is
the tool that helps us to get there." The equation enables a researcher
to identify and control experimental parameters to take carbon dioxide and convert it into useful carbon products like ethylene, ethane or ethanol.

Many researchers today use advanced computational methods to provide
a detailed atomistic picture of processes at the catalyst surface, but
these methods often involve several nuanced assumptions, which complicate direct comparison to experiments, said senior author Tobias Hanrath.

"The magnificence of this old equation is that there are very few
assumptions," Hanrath said. "If you put in experimental data, you get
a better sense of truth. It's an old classic. That's the part that
I thought was beautiful." DiDomenico said: "Because it is older,
the Cottrell equation has been a forgotten technique. It's classic electrochemistry. Just bringing it back to the forefront of people's minds
has been cool. And I think this equation will help other electrochemists
to study their own systems." The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, a Cornell Energy Systems Institute-Corning Graduate Fellowship and the Cornell Engineering Learning Initiative.

* RELATED_TOPICS
o Matter_&_Energy
# Organic_Chemistry # Energy_and_Resources # Chemistry #
Inorganic_Chemistry
o Earth_&_Climate
# Air_Quality # Global_Warming # Geochemistry # Climate
* RELATED_TERMS
o Carbon_dioxide o Carbon_monoxide o Fossil_fuel o
Forest o Ocean_acidification o Greenhouse_gas o Methane o
Carbon_dioxide_sink

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Cornell_University. Original written
by Blaine Friedlander, courtesy of the Cornell Chronicle. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Rileigh Casebolt DiDomenico, Kelsey Levine, Laila Reimanis,
He'ctor D.

Abrun~a, Tobias Hanrath. Mechanistic Insights into the Formation
of CO and C2 Products in Electrochemical CO2 Reduction─The
Role of Sequential Charge Transfer and Chemical Reactions. ACS
Catalysis, 2023; 4938 DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.2c06043 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/04/230406130732.htm

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