Converting Carbon Dioxide into Methane Fuel

Researchers have found a way to convert CO2 into methane using only UV light as an energy source. If this can be made to function with regular sunlight, then there will be an easy way to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere as well as a method to provide more renewable energy.

Duke University researchers have engineered rhodium nanoparticles (blue) that can harness the energy in ultraviolet light and use it to catalyze the conversion of carbon dioxide to methane, a key building block for many types of fuels. Credit: Chad Scales

Methane is a key building block for many types of fuels, and more is produced with the rhodium nanoparticles illuminated by UV light, rather than an even mix of methane and carbon monoxide. Being able to excite a certain reaction using only light has these scientists excited.

Rhodium is one of the rarest elements on Earth, but that doesn't mean it isn't used in many aspects of our daily lives. It's use as a catalyst in industrial processes to make drugs, detergents and nitrogen fertilizer. It's largest use -- at 80% of the world's production -- is for use in automobile catalytic converters to break down toxic pollutants.

source: wikimedia

Over the past 20 years, exploring how light can add energy to nanoscale bits of metal has been termed plasmonics. Plasmonic metals act like antennas that adsorb light and can generate electric fields. Rhodium can accelerate reactions by adding heat, but this produces unwanted products and shortens the catalyst lifetimes. But light doesn't have these drawbacks and uses less energy to catalyze.

Researchers at Duke University synthesized rhodium nanocubes of optimal size for UV light absorption. Small amounts of the powdery charcoal material is put into a reaction chamber with a mixture of carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Heating the nanoparticles to 300 degrees Celsius generates a reaction of methane and the poisonous gas carbon monoxide.

Methane is almost exclusively produced when rhodium nanoparticles are mildly illuminated as hot electrons are injected into the anti-bonding orbital of a critical intermediate, while carbon monoxide and methane are equally produced without illumination.

"Product selectivity in plasmonic photocatalysis for carbon dioxide hydrogenation," Xiao Zhang, Xueqian Li, Du Zhang, Neil Qiang Su, Weitao Yang, Henry O. Everitt and Jie Liu. Nature Communications, Feb. 23, 2017.

Using light instead of heat for the reactions enables the ability to choose which direction the chemical reaction goes. This selective production creates little of the unwanted side-products and is important to determine the cost for feasible industrial scale reactions.

The new energy production method isn't applied to any technology yet. The researchers are testing if this can replace current rhodium reactions in technology, and are tweaking the size of the nanoparticles to capture sunlight to initiate the catalyst process. This could then be integrated into renewable energy technology to provide methane fuel for power.

The scientists seem very excited a bout the possibilities: "we have only just begun to explore this exciting new approach to catalysis." Being able to take out CO2 and make methane fuel with just sunlight, that seems like it could really change things for the world's sustainability. With 30 tonnes produced each year, we can sure make good use of all that.

I'm hopeful, but not sure it will pan out. Doesn't it seem like there are all these new discoveries frequently? Has it been like this for years? What the result of all the previous cool discoveries and inventions? It doesn't seem to reach the public as things we can buy and use. I didn't used to look into tech and stuff before, but surely this kind of thing is happening at least a few times a year. I'm just curious about this. Maybe the Black Projects hijack the tech or something.

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References:

• Light-Driven Reaction Converts Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel
• "Product selectivity in plasmonic photocatalysis for carbon dioxide hydrogenation," Xiao Zhang, Xueqian Li, Du Zhang, Neil Qiang Su, Weitao Yang, Henry O. Everitt and Jie Liu. Nature Communications, Feb. 23, 2017. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14542

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2017-02-27, 6:03pm