Electrocatalysis of CO2 reduction

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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.