It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, August 10, 2024
Continuing climate warming trend and pronounced interannual variability in precipitation in the Three Gorges Region in 2022–2023
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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In August 2022, part of the river bank at the Three Gorges Reservoir was exposed as the water level dropped due to insufficient rainfall.
The Three Gorges Region of the Yangtze River (TGR) in China has a unique geographical location, complex geomorphological features, and a fragile and sensitive climate. The Three Gorges Project, as a large-scale comprehensive water conservancy hub project in the region, has not only greatly changed the nature, society and economy of the area, but also brought great benefits and created problems, such as environmental and climatic impacts. Therefore, it is of great importance to conduct climate and environmental monitoring in the region.
Recently, a team led by Chen Xianyan, a Professor at the National Climate Centre, published a report entitled "Climate state of the Three Gorges Region in the Yangtze River basin in 2022–2023" in the journal Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Letters(AOSL). The report, which is the fifth in the series published in AOSL, describes the characteristics of climate anomalies and acid rain in the TGR in the past two years.
Professor Chen, corresponding author of the paper, explains that to meet the needs of the construction and safe operation of the Three Gorges Project, she and her colleagues have been carrying out local climate monitoring and assessment for many years, and have been releasing the annual climate report on the TGR to the public for six years.
"The work involving the collection of climate data, monitoring of extreme weather events, and assessment of the impact of climate change over the TGR plays a crucial role in supporting the construction of an ecological civilization in the region and promoting regional development," Professor Chen adds.
The report points out that the average temperature in the TGR in 2022 and 2023 was 0.8℃ and 0.4℃ higher than normal, respectively, making them the two warmest years in the last decade, particularly in the summer of 2022, which was the hottest on record. Precipitation was very different between the two years, with rainfall in 2022 almost 20% below normal, and the high temperatures and low rainfall led to a severe drought in the area that lasted from summer to winter (see image, below), while rainfall in 2023 was 15% higher. During these two years, the region experienced extreme heatwaves, regional heavy rainfall and flooding, overcast rain, and cold spells. The report also discusses the important factors contributing to the occurrence of the extreme heatwave in the summer of 2022.
Upcycling spent coffee grounds by isolating Mannan-rich Holocellulose nanofibers
Yokohama National University
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Spent coffee grounds are purified to yield holocellulose, which is then reduced to HCNFs using mechanical nanofibrillation. The HCNFs are 2-3 nm and 0.7-1 mm in length. An AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy) image of the HCNF shows recrystallization of mannan.
Credit: Noriko Kanai, Graduate School of Information Sciences, Yokohama National University.
Along with all the coffee we drink every day, over 6 million tons of spent coffee grounds are produced annually worldwide. Some of these grounds are reused as biofuel but the rest are disposed of in landfills. Over the last decade, research has focused on how to reuse these grounds. The primary focus has been on the polysaccharides from the cellulose and hemicellulose in the ground up coffee bean’s cell walls. Polysaccharides are used in composites, biopolymers, food packaging, construction materials and cellulose nanofibers (CNFs). CNFs specifically, which are cellulose reduced to nanoparticle size, 3 to 5 nm, have many uses in the food, cosmetic, and coating industries.
Japanese researchers from Yokohama National University pioneered a method that used spent coffee grounds as a new waste material to isolate CNFs using TEMPO-mediated oxidation in 2020. However, that left up to ~40% of the coffee grounds’ hemicellulose unused. So, they turned their attention to holocellulose, the combination of hemicellulose and cellulose, to extract holocellulose nanofibers (HCNFs).
“Chemically unmodified and uniform quality HCNFs from agricultural/food waste are highly desirable for food additives such as emulsifiers. We hypothesized that the high hemicellulose contents in the holocellulose from spent coffee grounds and their unique structure could achieve completed nanofibrillation down to 3–5 nm wide and 1–3 μm long by mechanical disintegration,” said Izuru Kawamura, a professor at the Faculty of Engineering at Yokohama National University. In fact, they not only formed HCNF, but they also discovered a method of preservative-free long-term storage of the HCNF with added benefits for transport and handling, thereby significantly increasing its utility for the food and cosmetic industries.
To form HCNF out of the spent coffee grounds, the researchers removed lignin and lipids and then reduced the rest of the holocellulose fibrils to the nanoscale via nanofibrillation, the process of disintegrating fibril bundles into nanofibrils. The researchers used a jet mill with ultrahigh water pressure to mechanically nanofibrillate the holocellulose to form the HCNF.
The least degraded hemicellulose left in the spent coffee grounds after roasting is mannan. In the grounds, mannan has been shown to form a network between cellulose fibrils. This association is strong enough that even undergoing chemical treatments may not break it and, in some circumstances, mannan may recrystallize. The presence of mannan was essential in the ease of reconstituting the HCNFs after they had been freeze-dried. Generally during dehydration, the physical properties of nanocellulose change and they lose the ability to redisperse in water. However, when freeze-dried HCNFs were placed in room temperature water, a simple shake caused them to redisperse back into the nanoscale.
“The spent coffee grounds-derived HCNFs were completely nanofibrillated to 2–3 nm wide and 0.7–1 μm long, which was finer in width and shorter in length than general CNFs or HCNFs obtained by mechanical nanofibrillation, and desirable morphologies for food additives,” said Noriko Kanai, assistant professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University. Not only did they form finer and shorter HCNFs, but the discovery of the distinctive behavior of the HCNF in its freeze-dried state has many benefits. “The advantages of the once-freeze-dried HCNFs from spent coffee grounds are 1) preservative-free for long-term storage, 2) volume reduction during transportation, and 3) easy handling with only handshaking without solvent change or additional refinement process,” said Kanai.
The research teams next project will move forward with the work they have done with HCNFs. “Dried HCNFs have some advantages for commercial use, such as long-term storage without preservatives and volume reduction for transportation. As a next step, we are exploring the possibility of upcycling spent coffee grounds-derived HCNFs as cosmetic and food additives,” Kawamura said.
Other contributors include Kohei Yamada, Chika Sumida, Miyu Tanzawa, Yuto Ito, Toshiki Saito, Risa Kimura, and Toshiyuki Oyama from the Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University; Miwako Saito-Yamazaki from GRACE Co., Ltd, Yokohama; Akira Isogai from the Department of Biomaterial Sciences, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo.
This work was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI and JST COI-NEXT program.
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Yokohama National University (YNU or Yokokoku) is a Japanese national university founded in 1949. YNU provides students with a practical education utilizing the wide expertise of its faculty and facilitates engagement with the global community. YNU’s strength in the academic research of practical application sciences leads to high-impact publications and contributes to international scientific research and the global society. For more information, please see: https://www.ynu.ac.jp/english/
Journal
Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications
A research team led by the School of Engineering of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has constructed an unprecedented chiral-structured interface in perovskite solar cells, which enhances the reliability and power conversion efficiency of this fast-advancing solar technology and accelerates its commercialization.
A perovskite solar cell (PSC) is a type of solar cell that includes perovskite-structured compound materials, which are inexpensive to produce and simple to manufacture. Unlike conventional silicon solar cells that require expensive high-temperature, high-vacuum fabrication processes, perovskites can be easily made into thin films using various printing techniques at low cost. The performance of PSCs has climbed very rapidly in recent years, but there are still significant barriers to commercialization, particularly concerning their various stability aspects under real-world conditions. An outstanding challenge was the insufficient adhesion between the different layers of the cells, resulting in limited interfacial reliability.
To address this issue, Prof. ZHOU Yuanyuan, Associate Professor of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE) at HKUST, and his research team got inspiration from the mechanical strength of natural chiral materials and constructed an unprecedented chiral-structured interface in PSCs, unlocking very high reliability.
The team inserted chiral-structured interlayers based on R-/S-methylbenzyl-ammonium between the perovskite absorber and electron transport layer to create a strong, elastic heterointerface. The encapsulated solar cells retained 92% of their initial power conversion efficiencies after 200 cycles between −40°C and 85°C for 1,200 hours, tested under the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61215 solar cell standards.
“The intriguing mechanical properties of chiral materials are associated with the helical packing of their subunits, which resembles a mechanical spring,” said the first author of this work, Dr. DUAN Tianwei, currently a Research Assistant Professor in the CBE Department at HKUST and a previous Research Grants Council postdoctoral fellow. “Incorporating a chiral-structured interlayer at the crucial device interface makes the perovskite solar cell more mechanically durable and adaptable under various operational states,” she added.
“It is really the dawn for the commercialization of perovskite solar cells. Given the high efficiencies of these cells, if we could ultimately overcome the reliability issue, billions of energy markets will be seen,” said Prof. Zhou.
This breakthrough holds great promise for the future of solar energy. With the potential for enhanced reliability and power conversion efficiency, future perovskite solar panels could become even more dependable in various weather conditions, ensuring continuous electricity generation over extended periods.
The team’s research work, titled “Chiral-Structured Heterointerfaces Enable Durable Perovskite Solar Cells”, was recently published in prestigious journal Science. The paper was co-written by Dr. Duan (the lead first author) and Prof. Zhou (the lead corresponding author), as well as collaborators from the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Hong Kong Baptist University, and Yale University.
Schematics illustration of the homochiral and heterochiral interface modification concepts invented by Prof. Zhou’s research team.
A demonstration of using the perovskite solar cell developed by Prof. ZHOU Yuanyuan’s research team to charge a mobile phone.
Chiral-structured heterointerfaces enable durable perovskite solar cells
SPACE
Discovery of the highest-energy gamma-ray line in the universe
Science China Press
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Joint analysis of the GECAM-C and Fermi/GBM observation data on the brightest ever gamma-ray burst (GRB 221009A) reveals the discovery of gamma-ray line up to 37 MeV, the highest-energy gamma-ray line seen from any celestial object in the universe. Art by Jingchuan Yu.
This study is led by Prof. Shaolin Xiong (Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) and Prof. Jirong Mao (Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences) and Prof. Shuang-Nan Zhang (Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences). Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most energetic explosion phenomena and have important clues about the stars, the galaxies, and the universe. Since the discovery of GRB in the 1960s, the brightest ever GRB (named GRB 221009A) swept the Earth on October 9th, 2022, and its overwhelming brightness even caused troubles for many gamma-ray telescopes to observe normally. Fortunately, GECAM-C, the third instrument of the GECAM series that Shaolin Xiong proposed, provided an accurate and high-resolution measurement of the burst, thanks to its dedicated design for bright events. Considering the record-breaking brightness and rich observation data sets, the research team quickly realized that this GRB provides a precious opportunity to search for gamma-ray lines in the spectrum, which are critically important but never detected in GRB before.
For this goal, the research team executed a comprehensive spectral analysis of the joint observation data from two space gamma-ray monitors. “GECAM-C provided an accurate spectral measurement for the full course of this burst, while Fermi/GBM could extend the spectrum to a higher energy band. They together can give a very wide range of spectrum measurement and line search,” Shaolin Xiong says.
“Soon after we started this analysis, we noticed that, above the continuum spectrum that is usually seen in GRBs, there are some interesting excess features in some time intervals of this burst. We thought they might be the grail we’ve been looking for,” said the first author of this paper, Yanqiu Zhang, a PhD student at the Institute of High Energy Physics.
“But we knew there are so many things to check out before we claim it, because many elusive factors, such as background subtraction, instrumental effects, and systematic errors in detector response, can lead to fake features in the spectrum for bright bursts; thus, we have to investigate all these issues as much as possible. Having two telescopes to cross-check each other helped a lot in this study,” Shaolin Xiong says.
After the very challenging analyses of these issues in many months, the research group managed to derive the reliable spectra of this GRB and find a series of emission lines over the typical GRB spectra. Remarkably, they further found that both the line energy and flux evolve as a power law function of time. “Such a physical evolution cannot be produced by any factors we can think of and thus provides a solid proof of the reality and the GRB origin of these gamma-ray lines,” Shaolin Xiong says.
Interestingly, the team noticed that the line energy is up to 37 million electron volts during the bright part of the burst. “To our knowledge, a significant gamma-ray line with such high energy is never seen before; thus, we believe it is the highest-energy spectral line observed in the universe so far,” Shuang-Nan Zhang says.
In this work, the team also discussed some possible scenarios to explain the observed gamma-ray line features, including the power-law evolution of the line energy and flux and the nearly constant ratio of the line width to line energy. “These discoveries shed new and unique light on the physics of GRB and its relativistic jet. More theoretical studies are required to fully understand the observed gamma-ray line,” Jirong Mao says.
Efficient CO2 conversion to fuels and chemicals using polymer-modified Cu electrodes
Science China Press
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Polyacrylate featured with electron-accepting groups decorated onto the Cu electrode could stabilize the *CO intermediates, given the redistributed interfacial electron density and the raised energy level of d-band center of Cu active sites, thus facilitating the C-C coupling and then the C2+ selective production.
This study is led by Prof. Shaohua Shen (International Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University). Both experiments including catalyst preparation, structural characterizations and catalytic performance evaluation and DFT calculations were performed.
Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (eCO2RR) that produces valuable fuel or chemical provides a sustainable and carbon-neutrality approach to address the critical issues of global warming and renewable electricity storage. However, achieving high selectivity in eCO2RR towards economically desirable multicarbon (C2+) products (e.g., C2H4, C2H5OH, n-C3H7OH, etc.) remains challenging. Among the developed metallic catalysts that enable eCO2RR to generate C2+ products, metallic copper (Cu) is the most promising, and yet the polycrystalline Cu electrode suffers from the poor selectivity, due to the various reaction intermediates and the versatile reaction pathways. Currently, designing a facile and low-cost Cu catalyst with high selectivity for CO2RR is still challenging.
To address these challenges, the research team led by Prof. Shaohua Shen from Xi'an Jiaotong University has proposed a facile surface modification to the Cu electrode with poly (α-ethyl cyanoacrylate) (PECA) featured with electron-accepting cyano (-C≡N) and ester (-COOR) groups, derived by the anionic polymerization of surface adhered ECA, to stabilize the key intermediates for high selective C2+ production during eCO2RR. In comparison to the Cu electrode, the obtained PECA decorated Cu (Cu-PECA) electrode exhibits a superior selectivity toward C2+ products, with FE reaching 72.6% as high at −1.1 V vs. RHE. In a flow cell, stable C2+ production with a high FE of 76.3% and a high current density of −145.4 mA cm−2 could be achieved at −0.9 V vs. RHE over the Cu-PECA electrode. As revealed by electrochemical and in-situ spectral investigations as well as theoretical calculations, PECA featured with -C≡N and -COOR groups, decorated on the Cu electrode, is believed to distribute the interfacial electron density and raise the central energy level of the d-band (Ed) of Cu active sites, which inhibits the *H adsorption and stabilizes the *CO adsorption, facilitating the subsequent C-C coupling and ultimately leading to the selective generation of C2+ products. This work should be guidable to the design of surface decorated electrocatalysts or electrodes to steer the surface adsorption behaviors of reaction intermediates for eCO2RR towards C2+ production with high activity and selectivity.
See the article:
Polyacrylate modified Cu electrode for selective electrochemical CO2 reduction towards multicarbon products
Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) is an EU labelling scheme that guarantees the authentic regional identity of consumer food products. In France, 51 dairy products, including cheeses, butters, and creams, carry the PDO seal, a sign of artisanship and adherence to specifications related to production zones, production processes, and livestock diets, among other factors.
Cheese flavour, texture, and rind formation are all influenced by the bacteria, yeasts, and moulds introduced by milk sources and the fermentation process. These microbes can then go on to enrich the intestinal microbiota of cheese consumers.
For the first time ever, the microbial diversity of French PDO cheeses and their milk sources were studied by a team of researchers from INRAE, CEA, the French National Council for Dairy Products of Designated Origins (CNAOL), and the French National Interprofessional Centre for the Dairy Industry (CNIEL). As part of the MetaPDOcheese project (see sidebar below), the researchers worked with committed PDO stakeholders to collect samples from 386 farmers and cheese producers across France; they simultaneously gathered detailed information about cheese production methods.
They analysed 44 varieties of ripened cheese, all PDO. These cheeses were representative of seven cheese families (e.g., blue cheeses, pressed cooked cheeses) that are consumed worldwide. In the end, researchers from Genoscope[1] (CEA) sequenced the microbes in over 2,000 samples of French PDO cheeses and nearly 400 milk sources.
The results revealed the existence of extremely rich microbial assemblages: 820 bacterial species and 333 mould/yeast species in the cheeses, and 1,230 bacterial species and 1,367 mould/yeast species in the milk sources. A large proportion of the microbes in the cheeses likely come from the milk sources: there was overlap for approximately 42% of the bacterial species and 64% of the mould/yeast species.
After integrating the information on cheese production practices, the researchers found that species assemblages were influenced by variables such as geography, regional topography, and anthropogenic drivers—factors for which PDO is an aggregated proxy. From these findings, it is clear that regional artisanship helps cultivate the microbiota of cheeses.
This study has yielded valuable insights into the link between microbial diversity and the practices used to produce PDO cheeses, including how these dynamics may be affected by climate change.
[1]A division of the CEA's François Jacob Institute of Biology. Specialising in environmental genomics, Genoscope develops bioinformatics methods and conducts biodiversity-focused research in genomics and metagenomics. It is also a national sequencing centre and thus makes its services available to the entire scientific community via France Génomique.
A 2017 recipient of France Génomique funding for major sequencing projects, MetaPDOcheese is coordinated by INRAE (the SAYFOOD and UMRF research units). The project arose from brainstorming by the Microbial Ecosystems Group within the Joint Technical Network (RMT) for Terroir Cheeses. It has two main objectives: 1) to help those in PDO industries to better exploit omics approaches and 2) to answer ecological questions related to cheese and milk microbial assemblages. Ultimately, the project wants to identify techniques (e.g., technological tools, seeding practices) for fostering and safeguarding microbial diversity in cheese ecosystems, allowing stakeholders to develop methods for managing microbial resources in situ.
A comprehensive, large-scale analysis of 'terroir' cheese and milk microbiota reveals profiles strongly shaped by both geographical and human factors
Article Publication Date
6-Aug-2024
Quality and safety analysis of plant extracts
Published by Dr Tao Lan in the journal Current Analytical Chemistry
News Release
Bentham Science Publishers
As the demand for natural products continues to rise across pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements, and cosmetics, the importance of plant extracts as a key source of bioactive compounds has never been more evident. With increasing consumer focus on health, the discovery and utilization of new natural products are accelerating, contributing to a booming market. However, the diversity of plant extracts and the varied preparation processes have highlighted the need for standardized quality and safety measures globally.
Get more information here and contribute your research work on this trending topic: bit.ly/4fryXZj
This Special Issue addresses the urgent need for rigorous quality control in the industry. By bringing together research that delves into advanced analysis techniques, characterization methods, and the processes of extraction, isolation, purification, and analysis of plant extracts, the issue aims to establish a foundation for unified safety and efficacy standards. Researchers and industry experts are invited to contribute their findings to enhance the reliability and consistency of plant-based products.
Through this initiative, we seek to promote a collaborative effort within the scientific community to ensure that plant extracts meet the highest standards of quality and safety, ultimately benefiting consumers and advancing the fields of pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements, and cosmetics.
The dengue vaccine is effective and safe: confirmation from the first global meta-analysis
Università di Bologna
The Dengue vaccine has an efficacy rate of over 50% in reducing disease cases, with lasting effects and a very good safety profile. This is confirmed by the first global meta-analysis on the efficacy of TAK-003, better known as Qdenga: the only vaccine approved to date in Italy and many European countries for fighting Dengue. Published in the journalVaccines, the study was conducted by scholars from the University of Bologna and the University of Ferrara.
"This is the first comprehensive global analysis and we are very pleased with the data," says Lamberto Manzoli, director of the School of Specialization in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine at the University of Bologna, who coordinated the study. "It was not a foregone conclusion: it took many years to develop a vaccine with such good results."
The Dengue virus, transmitted by certain species of mosquitoes, infects about 400 million people annually in the warmer regions of the planet, causing more than 3 million deaths. Climate change is also expanding the habitat of the mosquitoes that carry the virus, leading to new Dengue outbreaks in an increasing number of countries. Even in Italy, with the continuous rise in cases, the disease is a major health concern.
Currently, there is no effective therapy against the disease, and environmental remediation actions against mosquitoes cannot eliminate the risk of epidemics. The only prevention strategy is therefore vaccination: approved in Europe in December 2022, the vaccine TAK-003, better known as Qdenga, has shown very promising results. However, until now, a comprehensive estimate of its effectiveness and safety was not available.
Researchers therefore examined and cross-referenced data from the 19 scientific studies conducted so far on the vaccine, to find solid evidence of its ability to combat the disease. Overall, the cases of over 20,000 individuals involved in the various tests were considered, even more than a year after the last administration, both with a single dose and with both doses required for complete vaccination.
The results show that the vaccine reduces the risk of contracting the disease by over 50%, with a high safety profile. Among those who received both doses, more than 90% developed antibodies against Dengue, and the response is very positive even among those who received only one dose: more than 70% of adults and more than 90% of children and adolescents develop antibodies.
"Given the results in terms of safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy, the administration of two doses can undoubtedly be a key tool for Dengue prevention," confirms Maria Elena Flacco, director of the School of Specialization in Public Health at the University of Ferrara and the study's lead author. "The currently available vaccine can therefore be very useful not only for populations in endemic areas but also for travellers from non-risk areas."
The study was published in the journal Vaccines under the title "Immunogenicity, Safety and Efficacy of the Dengue Vaccine TAK-003: A Meta-Analysis." The authors are Alessandro Bianconi, Matteo Fiore, and Lamberto Manzoli from the University of Bologna (Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences), along with Maria Elena Flacco, Giovanni Cioni, Giovanna Letizia Calò, Gianmarco Imperiali, Vittorio Orazi, Marco Tiseo, Anastasia Troia, and Annalisa Rosso from the University of Ferrara (Department of Environmental and Prevention Sciences).
Immunogenicity, Safety and Efficacy of the Dengue Vaccine TAK-003: A Meta-Analysis
Liverpool team report pioneering plasma-catalytic process for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol under ambient conditions
University of Liverpool
Researchers at the University of Liverpool have achieved a significant milestone in the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into valuable fuels and chemicals, marking an important step towards a sustainable net-zero economy.
In a paper published in the journal Chem, the team reports a pioneering plasma-catalytic process for the hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol at room temperature and atmospheric pressure.
This breakthrough addresses the limitations of traditional thermal catalysis, which often requires high temperatures and pressures, resulting in low CO2 conversion and methanol yield.
The novel process utilizes a bimetallic Ni-Co catalyst within a non-thermal plasma reactor to achieve an impressive single-pass 46% selectivity for methanol and 24% CO2 conversion at 35 °C and 0.1 MPa.
Non-thermal plasma, an ionized gas containing energetic electrons and reactive species, can activate strong chemical bonds of inert molecules like CO2, facilitating chemical reactions under mild conditions.
In addition, plasma-based modular systems can be turned on and off instantly, offering great flexibility to use intermittent renewable electricity for decentralized production of fuels and chemicals.
Professor Xin Tu, Chair in Plasma Catalysis at the University of Liverpool, said: "Our work demonstrates that plasma catalysis offers a flexible and decentralized solution for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol under ambient conditions. Our recent techno-economic assessment also show that this process can significantly reduce the capital costs compared with traditional thermal catalytic CO2-to-methaol processes, providing a viable route for utilizing renewable energy sources in the production of synthetic fuels."
In situ plasma-coupled Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) characterization and density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the bimetallic Ni-Co interface is the primary active center for methanol synthesis, with CO2 adsorption and hydrogenation occurring via the Eley-Rideal (E-R) mechanism to produce a variety of intermediates. Additionally, both the formate and carboxyl routes play a critical role in the formation of methanol, while the reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) and CO hydrogenation pathways were found to be less favorable on the Ni-Co sites. The precise control of Ni-Co sites in bimetallic catalysts holds significant promise for tailoring the weight of each reaction pathway by promoting asymmetric adsorption of CO2 molecules at the bimetallic interfaces, thereby effectively modulating the distribution of products.
This research underscores the significant potential of plasma catalysis as an emerging electrification technology for sustainable CO2 conversion and fuel production. The ability to perform these reactions at ambient conditions using a modular and scalable plasma system presents an attractive alternative for the chemical industry.
Furthermore, plasma-based systems can be powered by intermittent renewable electricity, enhancing the feasibility of decentralized fuel and chemical production.
This pioneering work is a major step forward in the field of catalytic CO2 conversion and offers promising avenues for future research and industrial applications to meet the challenge of a sustainable future.
The University of Liverpool research team is a leader in plasma catalysis and has also made pioneering advances in plasma catalytic conversion of CO2 to other fuels and chemicals. For example, they have developed promising plasma processes for CO2 methanation and single-step biogas conversion to methanol and have filed three PCT patents in this area.
