Wilfrid Laurier University

Purpose

Our team at Laurier is collaborating with scientists at the National Research Council (NRC) to study the transformation of CO2 to useful fuels using new catalytic materials. Within this project there is a need to understand the chemical reaction intermediates and products and the effect of the electronic properties of catalysts on the selectivity and efficiency of the electrochemical process. We have access to state-of-the art characterization tools (not available at NRC) that will allow the us to unravel the chemical nature of the catalyst’s surface and associated intermediates and products formed from electrochemical reduction of CO2 using simultaneous and online monitoring of surface chemicals and gas phase products. The team at NRC will be preparing the catalytic material to ship to Laurier to investigate their effectiveness. The significance of our research lies in the fact that results will provide detailed mechanistic experimental data at a molecular level that can be used to enhance the catalytic performance of new materials for scaling up for commercialization.