Thesis (M.S.)--University of California, Davis, 2018
Includes bibliographical references
By 2050, the projected population of the world is expected to be close to 10 billion people. With this increase in population comes an increase in energy demand, which to this point is mostly responsible for the carbon emissions we are trying to cut down. In just 2017, the number of metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) that were emitted by the United States alone was slightly higher than 5 billion metric tons, projected out to the entire world and this is an unstainable way of life. Fortunately, a portion of the technology needed to combat the rise of CO2 emissions is already here. By coupling renewable electricity to a transition metal catalyst, it has been shown in this thesis that CO2 can be converted to a high value product in formate (HCO2--)
Previous studies have shown the effectiveness of using transition metal catalysts to convert CO2 to HCO2-- such as gold, palladium and silver, however the scarcity and cost of these metals make wide range adoption impossible. The process of converting CO 2 to HCO2-- is consistent with the mechanism of electrohydrogenation, where adsorbed hydrogens are consumed during the reaction; thus having a material with a high adsorbed hydrogen concentration is ideal. Hydrogen molybdenum bronze catalysts have been shown to have a stoichiometric ratio of up to 2, both on the surface and in the bulk lattice, which allows for the high availability of hydrogen. Furthermore, the optimum potential for the hydrogen molybdenum bronze (HxMoO3) catalyst to convert CO2 is around an overpotential of 0.2 V which is relatively small energy demand compared to similar catalysts
The hydrogen molybdenum bronze catalyst has been shown to be stable in slightly alkaline conditions for up to 1 hour before degrading. However, to minimize the effects of degradation, controlling the potential can allow for the maximum HCO2-- production over the lifespan of the catalyst
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest, 2019
