Professor Louise Berben of the University of California-Davis is supported by the Chemical Catalysis (CAT) Program in the Division of Chemistry and the Catalysis and Biocatalysis Program in the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) to study the fundamental chemistry and reaction steps involved in the conversion of CO2 to small organic molecules, such as formate, and formaldehyde, and liquid fuels such as methanol. Multimetallic iron, cobalt, and nickel metal carbonyl cluster electrocatalysts will be developed for this purpose. The catalysts will ultimately be coupled to photocathodes so that the energy for the reactions under study can be derived from solar radiation. Electrochemical tools including cyclic voltammetry, and gas chromatography will be employed for the detection and characterization of the reaction products.
Insight into the electrochemical reduction of CO2 using efficient heterometallic transition metal electrocatalysts is likely to yield fundamental chemical knowledge that will facilitate advances in the conversion of CO2 into fuels and small chemical building blocks. The potential use of solar energy for these electrocatalytic chemical transformations adds to the value of the project. Students will be trained in a multidisciplinary research environment and a new inorganic laboratory module will be incorporated into undergraduate laboratory courses. The outreach activities include a plan to attract underrepresented students to the discipline of chemistry through the MURPPS (Mentorship for Undergraduate Research Participants in Physical and Mathematical Sciences) program, and a collaboration with the California Solar Energy Collaborative to inform public policy in this area.
