Title |
Discovery of a Ni-Ga catalyst for carbon dioxide reduction to methanol
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Published in |
Nature Chemistry, March 2014
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DOI | 10.1038/nchem.1873 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Felix Studt, Irek Sharafutdinov, Frank Abild-Pedersen, Christian F. Elkjær, Jens S. Hummelshøj, Søren Dahl, Ib Chorkendorff, Jens K. Nørskov |
Abstract |
The use of methanol as a fuel and chemical feedstock could become very important in the development of a more sustainable society if methanol could be efficiently obtained from the direct reduction of CO2 using solar-generated hydrogen. If hydrogen production is to be decentralized, small-scale CO2 reduction devices are required that operate at low pressures. Here, we report the discovery of a Ni-Ga catalyst that reduces CO2 to methanol at ambient pressure. The catalyst was identified through a descriptor-based analysis of the process and the use of computational methods to identify Ni-Ga intermetallic compounds as stable candidates with good activity. We synthesized and tested a series of catalysts and found that Ni5Ga3 is particularly active and selective. Comparison with conventional Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts revealed the same or better methanol synthesis activity, as well as considerably lower production of CO. We suggest that this is a first step towards the development of small-scale low-pressure devices for CO2 reduction to methanol. |
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Belgium | 3 | 10% |
United States | 3 | 10% |
Spain | 2 | 7% |
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Brazil | 1 | 3% |
Canada | 1 | 3% |
India | 1 | 3% |
Other | 3 | 10% |
Unknown | 7 | 24% |
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Members of the public | 14 | 48% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
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Denmark | 3 | <1% |
Korea, Republic of | 2 | <1% |
Sweden | 1 | <1% |
India | 1 | <1% |
Brazil | 1 | <1% |
Mexico | 1 | <1% |
Iran, Islamic Republic of | 1 | <1% |
Switzerland | 1 | <1% |
Other | 4 | <1% |
Unknown | 1106 | 98% |
Demographic breakdown
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Researcher | 171 | 15% |
Student > Master | 111 | 10% |
Student > Bachelor | 96 | 8% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 64 | 6% |
Other | 166 | 15% |
Unknown | 193 | 17% |
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Chemical Engineering | 173 | 15% |
Engineering | 124 | 11% |
Materials Science | 96 | 8% |
Physics and Astronomy | 39 | 3% |
Other | 60 | 5% |
Unknown | 261 | 23% |