Investigation of metal-organic frameworks for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction

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This project aims to investigate catalysts for the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to fuels. CO2 capture from factory emissions or via direct air capture and its subsequent conversion to renewable fuels via electrosynthesis is expected to play an increasingly significant role in Canada's renewable energy and sustainability efforts, as outlined in the Hydrogen Strategy for Canada. To this end, the proposed work combines the synthetic expertise from Dr. Roy's lab in the University of Lincoln (UNL) with the spectroscopic capacity at Prof. Kornienko's lab at the University of Montreal (UdeM) to investigate a metal-organic-framework (MOF) electrocatalyst that can be rationally tuned at a molecular level to maximize its activity.Importantly, this project combines fundamental chemical insights with industrially applicability that is expected to lead to substantial growth on the academic and industrial fronts in Canada and the United Kingdom as both countries' renewable energy investment grows and they take positions of leadership in the global push for sustainability. The collaboration here is critical because the takes advantage of the Roy lab's unique synthetic expertise in synthesizing electroactive MOF materials with the Kornienko Lab's one-of-a-kind in situ spectroscopic tools that would enable a mechanistic investigation of the MOFs. Both PIs leading this project have a deep base of expertise in their respective sub-fields and are at the beginning of their independent careers, indicating that there is much room to grow the collaboration upon the completion of the initial project. HQPs involved will receive a broad scientific training and to render them ready for a next step in both academia and in a host of industries (ex. Battery, pharma, analytical chemistry...).In sum, this proposed project draws from unique scientific capacities from UdeM and UNL to launch a collaboration that will implement a new paradigm in P2X technologies to help propel Canada and UK as leaders in renewable energy.