Carbon recycling instead of plastic trash

Iron electrocatalysis breaks down polystyrene and delivers green hydrogen

14-Nov-2024 - Plastics are inescapable in our daily lives. The vast amounts of plastic garbage heaped in landfills and in the environment, however, are as problematic as the plastics are useful. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a German research team has now introduced a new method for recycling polystyrene ...

Mechanism of Cobalt-Manganese Catalysts Deciphered

Combination of different methods was the key to success

22-Oct-2024 - The energy carrier hydrogen can be obtained from water by electrolysis. This works particularly well with Cobalt spinel electrocatalysts containing manganese. However, it was unclear why. Conventional catalysts for hydrogen production via water electrolysis usually contain precious metals and are ...

Cobalt-copper tandem successfully converts carbon dioxide to ethanol

Sustainability in the focus of chemical research

14-Oct-2024 - The continuing release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is a major contributor to global warming and climate change with increased extreme weather events. Scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have now presented a method for effectively converting carbon dioxide into ...

New electrocatalytic strategy enables ultrafast-charging lithium-ion battery

26-Sep-2024 - A team led by Prof. JI Hengxing and Prof. WU Xiaojun from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), in collaboration with Prof. DUAN Xiangfeng's team from the University of California, Los Angeles, developed a novel strategy for solid-state electrocatalysis in lithium-ion ...

When ions go hiking: New Insights into Solvation Kinetics at Electrocatalyst Surfaces

Crucial for the development of more efficient batteries and electrolyzers, or to fight corrosion

25-Sep-2024 - The Interface Science Department of the Fritz- Haber Institute has made additional strides toward "Exploring Dynamic Solvation Kinetics at Electrocatalyst Surfaces," as detailed in their article in the journal Nature Communications. Among other reactions, the researcher focused on the ion ...

Environmentally friendly and cost-effective electrolysers thanks to new MEA

Up to 95 percent less iridium, no PFAS: Spin-off elementarhy achieves first successes

11-Jul-2024 - A membrane electrode assembly (MEA) developed at the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP) in Greifswald, Germany can save up to 95 percent of the rare metal iridium in electrolysers. The technology also eliminates the use of per- and polyfluorinated chemicals (PFAS), making ...

How can Surface Morphology Change Selectivity in Electrocatalysis?

Catalyst roughness as a key factor

21-Jun-2024 - The Theory Department of the Fritz Haber Institute calls attention to catalyst morphology as a key factor in determining what product is being formed during an electrocatalytic reaction. The analysis, published in Nature Catalysis, explores how the ‘roughness’ of a catalyst surface changes the ...

A catalyst's best friend: how neighboring atoms boost CO₂ electrochemical reduction

Reducing carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals is a key strategy for mitigating climate change and achieving carbon neutrality

14-Jun-2024 - The quest for sustainable energy solutions has led to a new study that explores the neighboring effects in single-atom catalysts (SACs) for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2). This research delves into how the atoms surrounding the active metal center in SACs can significantly ...

New catalyst brings commercial high-efficiency zinc-air batteries closer to reality

05-Jun-2024 - The effective conversion from fossil fuel-based to renewable energy sources requires cost-efficient, high-capacity, rechargeable batteries. Zinc-air batteries (ZAB) can theoretically store large amounts of energy, but current technologies require the use of expensive noble metal catalysts, or ...

Building-Kit Catalyst

Metal-free organic framework for electrocatalytic production of ethylene from carbon dioxide

24-May-2024 - Use of the greenhouse gas CO2 as a chemical raw material would not only reduce emissions, but also the consumption of fossil feedstocks. A novel metal-free organic framework could make it possible to electrocatalytically produce ethylene, a primary chemical raw material, from CO2. As a team has ...