Today, over 34 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) is emitted each year globally. While efforts to reduce the environmental burden of such emissions has focused on the development and adoption of alternative energy technologies, a growing body of work is turning to the development of technologies to capture and convert CO2 into carbon-based fuels and chemicals. The successful implementation of such technologies will not only provide a source of clean energy for our future energy needs, but also provide much needed mitigation strategies to combat growing carbon emissions.
Spearheading this emerging field of research is Assistant Professor Wang Lei from NUS Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. A recipient of the Singapore NRF Fellowship (2021), Asst Prof Wang is focusing on developing better electrocatalytic processes to transform CO2 into fuels and valuable chemicals. At the core of his research are efficient electricity-to-fuel and fuel-to-electricity conversion methods, which stem from the development of catalytic materials, processes, and reactors. He has, for example, developed an electrocatalyst that is composed of gold nanoparticles on a polycrystalline copper foil (Au/Cu). This catalyst is highly active for CO2 reduction to alcohols such as ethanol and n-propanol, which are valuable chemicals, widely used in many manufacturing processes.
Asst Prof Wang aims to develop an in-depth understanding of the interfacial chemistry of the catalysts and identify the levers that control overall system performance in an electrocatalytic process, such as selectivity, activity, and durability. Such scientific insights will enable him to design technologies that change the energy landscape, and contribute to carbon emission reduction. He also wishes to expand his research expertise beyond CO2 reduction and electrochemical organic synthesis, into oxygen/nitrogen reduction, the electrochemical oxidation of fuels and the partial oxidation of methane to methanol.
A novel abiotic/biotic cascade strategy using carbon dioxide and genetically engineered E. coli strain to produce L-tyrosine
Promoting greener and more sustainable manufacturing processes of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals with a new class of catalysts, heterogeneous geminal atom catalysts (GACs)
A newly developed covalent organic framework (COF) material that can capture carbon dioxide gas and potentially convert the captured gas to useful commercial chemicals
Zhang, T., Jin, J., Chen, J., Fang, Y., Han, X., Chen, J., ... & Wang, L. (2022). Pinpointing the axial ligand effect on platinum single-atom-catalyst towards efficient alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction. Nature Communications, 13 (1), 1-14.
Chen, J., Liu, X., Xi, S., Zhang, T., Liu, Z., Chen, J., ... & Wang, L. (2022). Functionalized Ag with Thiol Ligand to Promote Effective CO2 Electroreduction. ACS nano, 16 (9), 13982-13991.
Chen, J., & Wang, L. (2022). Effects of the catalyst dynamic changes and influence of the reaction environment on the performance of electrochemical CO2 reduction. Advanced Materials, 34 (25), 2103900.
Wang, L., Higgins, D. C., Ji, Y., Morales-Guio, C. G., Chan, K., Hahn, C., & Jaramillo, T. F. (2020). Selective reduction of CO to acetaldehyde with CuAg electrocatalysts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117 (23), 12572-12575.
Wang, L., Nitopi, S., Wong, A. B., Snider, J. L., Nielander, A. C., Morales-Guio, C. G., ... & Jaramillo, T. F. (2019). Electrochemically converting carbon monoxide to liquid fuels by directing selectivity with electrode surface area. Nature Catalysis, 2 (8), 702-708.
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