PFI-TT: Scalable Manufacturing of Novel Catalysts for Converting CO2 to Valuable Products

这一创新技术转化伙伴关系(PFI-TT)项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发一种可扩展的催化剂和电极制造技术，能够通过电化学过程将二氧化碳(CO2)转化为一氧化碳(CO)等有价值的产品。近年来，主要温室气体二氧化碳的年人为排放量约为350亿吨。为了应对气候变化，关键是减少二氧化碳排放，最好是将二氧化碳转化为有价值的产品，使这一过程在经济上更可行。该技术旨在通过开发一种简单、廉价的方法来制备大量对二氧化碳电化学转化至关重要的催化剂，从而降低二氧化碳捕获和转化的总体成本。这项拟议的技术有可能通过转化从工业排放和大气中捕获的大量二氧化碳，创造一个价值数十亿美元的低碳产品和化学品市场。拟议的项目将以商用碳纳米管(CNTs)为原料，通过热解过程并在商业上可行的规模制造有效的催化剂。这是一种比使用昂贵的金属和碳前体合成催化剂的传统方法更具成本效益的方法。该项目将优化热解温度、时间和气体流量等工艺参数，以确保大规模生产的催化剂性能均匀。该项目还将有助于了解商业碳纳米管的组成与合成催化剂的催化性能之间的关系。此外，该团队还将制作一种大面积电极，涂覆一层优化的催化剂，并测试其电化学二氧化碳转化性能以及长期稳定性。这些可扩展性调查将为二氧化碳转化新技术的商业应用铺平道路。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to develop a scalable manufacturing technology for catalysts and electrodes that are capable of converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into valuable products such as carbon monoxide (CO) via an electrochemical process. The annual anthropogenic emissions of CO2, the major greenhouse gas, are about 35 billion metric tons in recent years. To combat the climate change, it is critical to reduce CO2 emissions and preferably convert CO2 into valuable products to make the process more economically viable. The proposed technology aims to lower the overall cost of CO2 capture and conversion by developing a simple and inexpensive method to fabricate large quantities of catalysts that are critical to the electrochemical CO2 conversion. The proposed technology has the potential to create a multi-billion-dollar market of low-carbon products and chemicals by converting large amounts of CO2 captured from industry emissions and the atmosphere. The proposed project will use commercial carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as the feedstock to fabricate effective catalysts via a pyrolysis process and at a commercially viable scale. This is a more cost-effective approach than conventional methods using costly metals and carbon precursors for catalyst synthesis. The project will optimize the process parameters such as pyrolysis temperature, time, and gas flow rate to ensure a uniform catalyst property from large-scale manufacturing. This project will also provide understanding of the relationship between the composition of commercial CNTs and the catalytic performance of the synthesized catalyst. In addition, the team will fabricate a large-area electrode coated by a thin layer of the optimized catalyst and test its electrochemical CO2 conversion performance as well as long-term stability. These scalability investigations will pave the way for commercial applications of the new technology for CO2 conversion.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.