Methane from carbon dioxide
Efficient catalyst for the light-driven methanation of CO2

Date:
November 17, 2021
Source:
Wiley
Summary:
Recycling carbon dioxide, especially through conversion to methane,
is compelling while anthropogenic CO2 emissions are still rising. A
useful process for this transformation is photothermal methanation,
in which CO2 and hydrogen are catalytically converted into CH4 and
water upon irradiation with sunlight. A team of researchers has now
reported the synthesis of a highly active, stable, nickel-carbon
catalyst for this reaction.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Recycling carbon dioxide (CO2), especially through conversion to methane
(CH4), is compelling while anthropogenic CO2 emissions are still rising. A useful process for this transformation is photothermal methanation,
in which CO2 and hydrogen are catalytically converted into CH4 and
water upon irradiation with sunlight. In the journal Angewandte Chemie,
a team of researchers has now reported the synthesis of a highly active, stable, nickel-carbon catalyst for this reaction.


==========================================================================
The team led by Luis Garzo'n-Tovar and Jorge Gascon at King Abdullah
University of Science and Technology (Thuwal, Saudi Arabia) was looking
for an efficient, economical catalyst for the photothermal methanation of
CO2. Photothermal catalysis is based on the combination of light-driven
and thermal chemical processes. In contrast to pure photocatalysis,
it has the advantage of allowing longer wavelength light in the visible
and IR regions of the spectrum to contribute to driving the reaction.

Instead of precious metals, they sought to base the new catalyst on an abundant, inexpensive metal, and chose to use a high load of nickel nanoparticles on a carbon-based support. Carbon materials are highly
promising supports for photothermal catalysis because they absorb a
broad spectrum of light, are highly efficient in converting light into
heat energy, and have a large surface area.

The team used a nickel-containing metal-organic framework (Ni-MOF-74) as
their starting material for producing the catalyst. Controlled pyrolysis
of this material at 600DEGC proved to be optimal. The Ni-MOF-74 decomposes
to form uniform finely distributed nickel nanoparticles embedded
in a porous graphitic carbon matrix. The resulting material, named
Ni@C, demonstrated a high rate of conversion and high selectivity for methanation under artificial UV, visible, and IR light. In a continuous
process in a flow-type reactor, the efficiency of the catalyst remained
stable over a period of more than 12 hours.

To demonstrate the practical application of this system, an experiment
was run outside, under natural sunlight, proving the potential of this
new catalyst to reduce CO2 to CH4 using solar energy.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Wiley. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Il Son Khan, Diego Mateo, Genrikh Shterk, Tuiana Shoinkhorova, Daria
Poloneeva, Luis Garzo'n‐Tovar, Jorge Gascon. An Efficient
Metal- Organic Framework‐Derived Nickel Catalyst for the
Light Driven Methanation of CO 2. Angewandte Chemie International
Edition, 2021; DOI: 10.1002/anie.202111854 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211117100104.htm

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