STTR Phase I: Plasmonic Carbon dioxide to fuel photocatalysis by solar energy

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种变革性的二氧化碳封存技术，该技术可以将二氧化碳和水直接转化为汽油燃料，效率前所未有，阳光是唯一的能源投入。该技术基于地球上丰富的金属作为光催化剂，对环境友好，有可能以非常低的成本大规模生产汽油燃料。将二氧化碳转化为有用的可再生能源的能力不仅可以减少碳足迹，还可以改变现有的能源基础设施，减少我国对化石燃料的能源依赖。这个小型企业技术转移(STTR)第一阶段项目的重点是开发一种纳米使能的等离子体光合作用技术，在太阳辐射的作用下将二氧化碳转化为汽油燃料。初步的实验室规模实验表明，太阳能到化学品的峰值转换效率为8%至10%。该提案的重点是设计和建造台式半间歇反应器，以证明该工艺的技术可行性，并评估其未来扩大规模的技术和商业潜力。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is in the development of a transformative carbon dioxide sequestration technology that can convert carbon dioxide and water directly into gasoline fuels with unprecedented efficiency, with sunlight as the only energy input. The technology is based on earth abundant metals as photo-catalysts, is environment- friendly, and potentially can be used to mass-produce gasoline fuels at very low-cost. The ability to convert carbon dioxide into useful renewable energy source will not only decrease the carbon footprint but also transform the current energy infrastructure and reduce our country's energy dependence on fossil fuels.This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is focused on developing a nano-enabled plasmonic photosynthesis technology for converting carbon dioxide into gasoline fuels in the presence of solar radiation. Preliminary laboratory scale experiments have demonstrated a solar-to-chemicals peak conversion efficiency of 8 to 10%. The proposal focuses on designing and building a bench-top semi-batch reactor to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the process and assess its technical and commercial potential for future scale up.