Electrically conducting organic composites as a catalytic platform for the conversion of atmospheric molecules to fuels and chemical buildings blocks
Title: Electrically conducting organic composites as a catalytic platform for the conversion of atmospheric molecules to fuels and chemical buildings blocks
DNr: SNIC 2021/5-210
Project Type: SNIC Medium Compute
Principal Investigator: Rikard Emanuelsson <rikard.emanuelsson@angstrom.uu.se>
Affiliation: Uppsala universitet
Duration: 2021-05-01 – 2022-05-01
Classification: 20403 21001 20502
Homepage: https://www.materialvetenskap.uu.se/
Keywords:

Abstract

Composites assembled from redox-active covalent organic frameworks (COFs) and organic conducting polymers (CPs) as a scalable and versatile electrocatalytic material for the transformation of atmospheric abundant molecules, such as water and carbon dioxide, to fuels and valuable chemical building-blocks is proposed. The COF/CP composite will be employed as an electrocatalytic material in the reduction of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide and of water to hydrogen gas, two crucial conversions for an accelerated transition towards a society independent of fossil fuels. COFs are a porous and crystalline material that in many ways are ideally suited for catalytic applications. The crystal framework provides a stable platform in which catalysts can easily be integrated while its porosity results in surface areas of several thousand square meters per gram, allowing a large number of catalytic sites to be exposed to the environment. Embedding CPs into the porous COF and forming COF/CP composites enables the use of COFs as electrocatalysts beyond thin-films, as the electrical conductivity of the CP allows catalytic sites throughout the material to be active. The CPs can furthermore be straightforwardly functionalized in order to improve catalysis by interacting with the catalyst or increasing the diffusion rate of molecules within the composite.