Two IU chemists have received $525,000 from the National Science Foundation to advance research with applications to the emerging field of carbon recycling, according to an IU press release.
IU scientists Steven L. Tait and Kenneth Caulton will combine their knowledge in two distinct fields of chemistry, surface chemistry and metal-organic chemistry, to create new catalysts that guide molecular transformations, according to a press release.
An example of this type of change is converting environmentally harmful carbon dioxide molecules into carbon-neutral plastics, building materials and fuel. Carbon dioxide, or CO2, is the product of combustion of gasoline or coal, according to a press release.
“The conversion of molecules into new forms, including ‘recycling’ carbon, is a broad challenge in chemistry,” Tait said in a press release. “Our work will advance the field by applying methods pioneered at IU toward the development of reactions not yet attainable outside highly controlled laboratory environments.”
The co-agent on the project is Caulton, a distinguished chemistry professor and world-renowned expert in metal-organic chemistry, which employs organic materials to isolate and organize single metal atoms into powerful, complex structures, roughly analogous to enzymes, the molecules of life, according to a press release. Tait and Caulton’s labs began to team up nearly two years ago. Support from the NSF was based in part upon the strength of these early experiments, in which the two teams successfully engineered a new type of surface from highly organized metal atoms that reacted chemically with carbon dioxide gas, according to a press release. The capability to coax a surface reaction of this kind from carbon dioxide was a breakthrough since the bond between a single carbon atom and two oxygen atoms is strong and difficult to disrupt or convert into more valuable products, according to a press release.
“There are economically feasible methods for transforming oxalate into other chemicals, including plastics, building materials or fuel,” Tait said in a press release. “But first you’ve got to develop a reaction that is cost effective and scales up in a practical way.”
Significantly, fuels created from recycled carbon dioxide emissions are carbon neutral since burning them does not raise the overall amount of carbon in the atmosphere, according to a press release.
“This project is really about advancing a new, highly delicate form of chemistry,” Caulton said in a press release. “We’re separating out metal atoms so they’re laid out identically across a surface. At this level of granularity, things start to act differently. We’re able to reach levels of precision and complexity in our reactions that weren’t previously attainable.” Away from carbon recycling, the methods advanced under the grant could update the creation of other useful molecules and could make a big influence in states such as Indiana, where manufacturing and fossil fuels remain important to both economic and energy production, according to a press release. “If you could create technology that pulls emissions from coal power or cars and reuse it — to recycle all that CO2 rather than letting it escape into the atmosphere it could play a big role in the economy,” Tait said in a press release. “We’re working hard to push the limits of what can be done.”
