Proceedings of Materials for Sustainable Development Conference (MAT-SUS) (NFM22)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.nfm.2022.034
Publication date: 11th July 2022
Energy-intensive thermochemical processes within chemical manufacturing are a major contributor to global CO2 emissions. With the increasing push for sustainability, the scientific community is striving to develop renewable energy-powered electrochemical technologies in lieu of CO2-emitting fossil-fuel-driven methods. However, to fully electrify chemical manufacturing, it is imperative to expand the scope of electrosynthetic technologies, particularly through the innovation of reactions involving nitrogen- and sulfur- based reactants as products from water/CO2 electrolysis do not cover the full scope of industrial needs.
To this end, this talk focuses on my lab’s efforts in the co-electrolysis of CO2 with additional small molecule reactants (NH3, NO3-, SO32-…) in generating products with C-N and C-S bonds like amides, urea, and sulfonates that are important as commodity and fine chemicals in the chemical industry. In particular, I will discuss several new reaction pathways discovered towards several of the above-mentioned products and the application of operando techniques to understand the key C-N/C-S coupling steps in the reaction process.