“For every mention of CO2 splitting, there are more than 100 articles on splitting water to produce hydrogen, yet CO2 splitting uses up more of what you want to put a dent into,” said Professor Clifford Kubiak, from the department of chemistry and biochemistry at UCSD. “It also produces CO, an important industrial chemical, which is normally produced from natural gas. So with CO2 splitting you can save fuel, produce a useful chemical and reduce a greenhouse gas”, he added.

 

The process is as follows: the device uses a semiconductor and a catalyst to split CO2 into CO + O using solar energy. Some electricity, which could be used for other purposes, is created by the moement of electrons in the process. The UCSD scientists have generated a molecule that is a catalyst for the process, making it more reliable.

“The technology to convert carbon monoxide into liquid fuel has been around a long time,” said Professor Kubiak. “It was invented in Germany in the 1920s. The U.S. was very interested in the technology during the 1970s energy crisis, but when the energy crisis ended people lost interest. Now things have come full circle because rising fuel prices make it economically competitive to convert CO into fuel”, he commented.

This new technology could be linked to biogas production in dumping sites, where waste is used to generate clean electricity, in a very nice synergie. We expect to see technologies such as UCSD's exploited at commercial level soon.

 

For additional information:

www.ucsd.edu