Engineered Nanocomposites for Capturing and Converting Carbon Dioxide into Useful Chemicals

ABSTRACTWe describe a simple drop-cast processing method to synthesize multicomponent polymer-based nanocomposites for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and conversion into stable carbonates. These multicomponent nanocomposites are made of combination of different metal oxide nanoparticles and catalysts in a porous polymer matrix. The formulation includes the combination of titanium dioxide and magnesium oxide, ruthenium oxide, and iron oxide where each metal oxide exhibits its own catalytic function of trapping carbon dioxide. Such a material system provides numerous localized catalytically active hot reaction spots generated by the dispersed multifunctional oxide nanoparticles that react with CO2 when exposed to the gas stream and instantaneously convert the captured carbon into carbonates. Finally, we discuss our ongoing work on the possibility of converting captured-carbon-formed-carbonate into useful products/commodities such as methane, methanol and formic acid. The integration of polymer materials with catalytically active nanomaterials shows a promising strategy for CO2 capture and conversion into useful products towards achieving a sustainable energy future.