Electrocatalysis of CO2 reduction

二氧化碳的电化学还原可用于隔离二氧化碳排放，储存多余的电能，为燃料电池和工业原料提供非气体燃料，并为密闭空间提供大气控制。加拿大可以对环境作出重要贡献，并将从这类技术的开发和销售中获得巨大利益。这项建议是基于以前的研究结果。我们发现一种新的二吡嗪吡啶配体的羰基二氯钌（II）配合物在一个非常容易接近的电位下作为二氧化碳还原的电催化剂。提出的研究目的是在工作装置中实现这种有前途的催化剂，并开发新的候选电催化剂，显示更高的效率。科学的方法有三个阶段。第一步包括催化剂在电极表面的吸附，相关的测试和使用修饰电极的电池结构。第二阶段涉及到相关催化剂的制备和评估，这些催化剂将在当前设计的电子较差的版本中以较低的电势运行，然后像以前一样整合到电池中。第三阶段需要创造双功能催化剂，通过质子穿梭侧链酶样效率促进质子偶联电子转移，并在设备中实现。这些材料的设计将采用高级计算模型，预测可能的结构修改的影响。该项目将在三个共同申请者的实验室中进行，它们都在约克大学，并将有助于训练高素质的人员。它将雇用三名研究生、一名博士后、三名本科生暑期实习和几名本科生论文项目学生，所有人都将以不同的方式共同监督，并从接触各种实验技术中受益。

The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide can be used to sequester carbon dioxide emissions, store excess electrical energy, provide non-gaseous fuels for fuel cells and industrial feedstocks, and provide atmospheric control for confined spaces. Canada can make important environmental contributions, and stands to benefit enormously from the development and marketing of such technologies. This proposal is based on previous findings. We have found that a arbonyldichlororuthenium(II) complex of a new dipyrazinylpyridine ligand acts as an electrocatalyst for carbon dioxide reduction at a very accessible potential. The proposed research aims to implement this promising catalyst in a working device and to develop new candidate electrocatalysts displaying increased efficiency. The scientific approach has three stages. The first involves the adsorption of the catalyst onto electrode surfaces, associated testing and construction of a cell using the modified electrode. The second stage involves the preparation and evaluation of related catalysts that will operate at lower potentials from electron-poorer versions of the current design, then incorporation into a cell as before. The third stage calls for the creation of bifunctional catalysts facilitating proton-coupled electron transfer via a proton-shuttling side-chain forenzyme-like efficiencies, and their implementation in a device. The design of these materials will employ high-level computational modeling, anticipating the effects of the possible structural modifications. The project will be carried out in the laboratories of the three co-applicants, all at York University, and will contribute to the training of highly qualified personnel. It will employ three graduate students, one post-doctoral fellow, three undergraduate summer placements and several undergraduate thesis project students, all in various combinations of shared supervision and all benefitting from exposure to a diverse array of experimental techniques.