Activities

1st March 2021, 13:00 CET, Zoom meeting

Lecture by Pr. Marc Robert from the REACTE group at the Laboratoire d’Électrochimie Moléculaire of Université Paris Diderot, France.

Title of the lecture:
“Molecular (photo)electrochemical Reduction of CO₂ with Co and Fe Complexes.
Hybrid Catalysis, Highly Reduced Products”

Join zoom meeting

Abstract:

Reduction of carbon dioxide has as main objective the production of useful organic compounds and fuels – renewable fuels – in which solar energy would be stored. Molecular catalysts can be employed to reach this goal. They may in particular provide excellent selectivity thanks to easy tuning of the electronic properties at the metal and of the ligand second and third coordination sphere. Recently it has been shown that such molecular catalysts may also be tuned for generating highly reduced products (beyond CO and formate), leading to new exciting advancements.

Hybridization of these catalysts with conductive or semi-conductive materials may lead to enhance stability and new catalytic properties, as well as inclusion of molecular catalysts in devices for applications. This approach bridges between homogeneous and heterogeneous, and it raises new fundamental questions that may further lead to breakthrough in CO₂ reduction chemistry.

Our recent results in these various areas will be discussed.

References:

1. E. Boutin, M. Robert, Trends in Chemistry, 2021, in press.
2. P. B. Pati, E. Boutin, R. Wang, S. Diring, S. Jobic, N. Barreau, F. Odobel, M. Robert, Nat. Commun. 2020, 11:3499.
3. B. Ma, G. Chen, C. Fave, L. Chen, R. Kuriki, K. Maeda, O. Ishitani, T-C. Lau, J. Bonin, M. Robert,  Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 6188-6195.
4. S. Ren, D. Joulie, D. Salvatore, K. Torbensen, M. Wang, M. Robert, C. Berlinguette, Science 2019, 365, 367-369.
5. E. Boutin, M. Wang, J. C. Lin, M. Mesnage, D. Mendoza, B. Lassalle-Kaiser, C. Hahn, T. F. Jaramillo, M. Robert, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 16172-16176.
6. Z. Guo, C. Cometto, G. Chen, L. Chen, B. Ma, H. Fan, T. Groizard, W-L. Man, S-M. Yiu, K-C. Lau, T-C. Lau, M. Robert, Nat. Catal. 2019, 2, 801-808.

Talk by NordCO₂ PhD student Simon S. Perdersen from the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center at Aarhus University, Denmark.

This talk is reserved for the NordCO₂ members and is accessed via Gather.

28th April 2021, 09:00 CET

Lecture by Prof. Matthias Beller, Head of the Department of Applied Homogeneous Catalysis at the Liebniz-Institut für Katalyse (LIKAT), Germany.

Title of the lecture:
“Unifying Concepts for the Development of Catalysts for Small Molecule Activation”

28th April 2021, 10:00 CET

Presentation of the 9 research groups part of the C1 Value Programme from the Academy of Finland.

28th April 2021, 12:00 CET

Lecture by Prof. Walter Leitner, Director of the Division of Molecular Catalysis at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, Germany.

Title of the lecture:
“Power-to-X catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide and hydrogen for fuels and chemicals”

Read more and register at:

20th May 2021, 14:00 CET

Lecture by Dr. Aleix Comas-Vives from the Modelling of Heterogeneous Catalysts research group at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.

Title of the lecture:
“Theory-Aided Comprehension of CO₂ Conversion on Heterogeneous Catalysts”

Abstract:

A transition using sustainable energy sources requires the replacement of fossil-based fuels by
synthetic energy vectors. The conversion of CO₂ to generate high-energy-density
(oxy)hydrocarbons catalyzed by heterogeneous catalysts is one of the most attractive routes for
this purpose since such materials are highly active in related CO₂/CO conversion reactions.
Theoretical calculations are crucial to understanding heterogeneous catalysts at the atomic
level. This talk will provide an overview of our recent works in the field in thermally promoted
CO₂/CO conversions,^1-7 highlighting the activity of 2D-Mo₂CTx (MXenes)⁶ and Cu single sites
supported on them (Cu@Mo₂CTx).⁷ Theoretical calculations reveal that Cu@Mo₂CTx enables
the simultaneous H₂ heterolytic cleavage and C-H bond formation steps. We suggest this is due
to the electronic nature of Cu single sites and the oxyphilic character of the support.⁷

References:
1. K. Larmier, W. C. Liao, S. Tada, E. Lam, R. Verel, A. Bansode, A. Urakawa, A. Comas-Vives*, C.
Copéret*, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 2318-2323.
2. E. Lam, J. J. Corral-Pérez, K. Larmier, G. Noh, P. Wolf, A. Comas-Vives, A. Urakawa, C. Copéret*,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 131, 14127-14134.
3. M. Silaghi, A. Comas-Vives,* C. Copéret, ACS Catal. 2016, 6, 4501-4505.
4. L. Foppa, M. Silaghi, K. Larmier, A. Comas-Vives*, J. Catal. 2016, 343, 196-207.
5. L. Foppa, T. Margossian, S. M. Kim, C. Müller, C. Copéret, K. Larmier,* A. Comas-Vives* J. Am.
Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 17128-17139.
6. Kurlov, A.; Deeva, E. B.; Abdala, P. M.; Lebedev, D.; Tsoukalou, A.; Comas-Vives, A.; Fedorov, A.;
Müller, C. R., Nat. Commun. 2020, 11, 4920.
7. Zhou, H.; Chen, Z.; Díaz López, E.; Lam, E.; Tsoukalou, A.; Willinger, E.; Kuznetsov, D. A.; Mance,
D.; Kierzkowska, A.; Donat, F.; Abdala, P. M.; Comas-Vives, A.*; Copéret, C.*; Fedorov, A.*; Müller, C.
R.*, under revisions.

20th May 2021, 14:45 CET, Zoom meeting (click on the link to register)

 Talk by NordCO₂ PhD student Ebrahim Tayyebi from Prof. Skúlason’s research group at the University of Iceland, Iceland.