Tag: Catalysts

Add-on device makes home furnaces cleaner, safer and longer-lasting

sarah JonasResearch Results

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an affordable add-on acid gas reduction technology that removes 99.9% of acidic gases and other emissions to produce an ultraclean natural gas furnace. The AGR technology can also be added to other natural gas-driven equipment.

In an Advance for Solar Fuels, Hybrid Materials Improve Photocatalytic Carbon Dioxide Reduction

sarah JonasResearch Results

Scientists are working to transform carbon dioxide into chemical solar fuels. To advance this process, researchers have identified a new hybrid material that consists of a light-absorbing semiconductor and a cobalt catalyst. The research extends scientific efforts to identify new ways to store energy and to efforts to understand how light-absorbing hybrid systems can drive the catalytic production of chemical fuels using solar energy.

A New Tandem Catalyst Converts Carbon Dioxide into Valuable Multicarbon Products More Selectively

sarah JonasResearch Results

Electrochemical reduction can convert carbon dioxide into multicarbon products for use as a raw material in chemicals and fuels. In this research, scientists improved this conversion process by using a tandem catalyst electrode. The electrode includes a silver or iron-nitrogen-carbon-based catalyst to convert carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and incorporates a second segment that contains a copper catalyst to convert carbon monoxide into multicarbon products. Relative to prior methods, the developed approach more selectively converts carbon dioxide into desired compounds.

Watching Light Break Down a Model Photocatalyst in Near Real Time

sarah JonasFeature

Chemists create catalysts for use in industry and other applications. One of the methods to create these catalysts is by using light to break down organometallic compounds, a process called photodissociation. This study used ultrafast infrared spectroscopy to study how ultraviolet light photodissociates gas phase iron pentacarbonyl. These insights may help scientists design new photocatalysts.

Clingy Copper Ions Contribute to Catalyst Slowdown

sarah JonasResearch Results

PNNL scientists, working with researchers at Washington State University and Tsinghua University, discovered a mechanism behind the decline in performance of an advanced copper-based catalyst. The team’s findings, featured on the cover of the journal ACS Catalysis, could aid the design of catalysts that work better and last longer during the NOx conversion process.

Novel Catalyst Means Ammonia Synthesis with Less Heat and Pressure

sarah JonasFeature

Neutron scattering has unveiled new insights into the performance of a novel metal catalyst used to convert nitrogen into ammonia. The key discovery is that the hydrogen atoms on the surface of the material—not caged inside the catalyst—play the most significant role in the ammonia synthesis. The material catalyzes ammonia synthesis with significantly less energy than the traditional iron-based catalysts.

NSF Awards OU Faculty Member $2 Million Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation Grant

sarah JonasAnnouncement

Not all plastics are created equally – from milk jugs and soda bottles, which are readily recyclable, to multi-layered packaging that increases shelf life and requires less material but is less recyclable – the challenge is for researchers to design a process that allows more of the plastics we use in our everyday lives to end up in our recycle bins rather than the local landfill.