Heterometallic complexes with lanthanide and coinage metal centres for CO2 reduction

人为气候变化是当代最大的问题之一。自然灾害发生的可能性越来越大。为了找到解决方案，来自不同领域的研究人员必须共同努力。此外，碳中和社会需要不依赖化石资源的基本化学品供应的解决方案。我们提出了一个项目，解决了从大气中去除二氧化碳和生产小有机分子的电化学措施和跨学科合作的优化。这利用了一种新的方法，通过研究镧系金属配位化合物电催化还原二氧化碳的协同效应。现有的杂金属配合物将被筛选这些性质，并与所获得的知识，新的化合物将被合成。与材料科学家和理论家一起，我们希望更好地理解潜在的过程，并在项目结束时理想地展示其适用性。

Anthropogenic climate change is one of the largest contemporary problems. The probability for natural disasters grows with increasing pace. To find solutions, researchers from different fields have to work together. Furthermore, a carbon neutral society needs solutions for the supply of basic chemicals not depending on fossil resources. We propose a project that tackles both the removal of carbon dioxide from atmosphere and the production of small organic molecules with electrochemical measures and interdisciplinary collaboration for optimisation. This utilises a new approach by investigating collaborative effects of electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 by lanthanide-coinage metal coordination compounds. Existing heterometallic complexes will be screened for these properties and with the knowledge gained new compounds will be synthesised. Together with material scientists and theoreticians we want to elaborate a better understanding of the underlying processes and ideally show the applicability towards the end of the project.