Relevance: Mains: G.S paper III: Science and technology
Why in news?
- Scientists from the University of Connecticut in the US have found a novel catalyst that breaks down carbon dioxide into useful chemicals faster, cheaper, and more efficiently than the standard method.
Background:
- Extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is changing the planet’s climate, and many chemists are working on efficient ways to turn it into other useful products.
- However, carbon dioxide’s stability makes this tough. It is hard to get the molecule to react with anything else.
- The best existing technique to electrochemically break carbon dioxide into pieces that will chemically react uses a catalyst made of platinum, which is a rare, expensive metal.
Nickel-Iron Catalyst:
- Now, a team of researchers at Stanford University have created an electrochemical cell filled with a porous, foamy catalyst made of nickel and iron. Both metals are cheap and abundant.
- When carbon dioxide gas enters the electrochemical cell, and a voltage is applied, the catalyst helps the carbon dioxide (a carbon atom with two oxygens) break off oxygen to form carbon monoxide (a carbon atom with one oxygen).
- The carbon monoxide is very reactive and a useful precursor for making many kinds of chemicals, including plastics and fuels such as gasoline.