Researchers have developed a novel combination of materials that have organic and inorganic properties, with the goal of using them in technologies that convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into a liquid fuel.
Researchers have developed a novel combination of materials that have organic and inorganic properties, with the goal of using them in technologies that convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into a liquid fuel.
“Fundamentally, the goal of this project was to engineer a surface that would allow us to efficiently convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into methanol, which is a liquid fuel,” says Gregory Parsons, corresponding author of a paper on the work and Celanese Acetate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. “Our hypothesis was that a class of materials called metalcones would be a valuable tool for addressing this challenge. Our work in this paper focuses on the engineering of a metalcone thin film for this application.”
Inorganic materials tend to be solid and have stable characteristics. Organic materials can have spongelike physical properties and tend to be more chemically reactive. Metalcone thin films are both organic and inorganic – and therefore have both organic and inorganic properties.
Read More: North Carolina State University
