The Journal of American Chemical Society (JACS) just published the paper “Tunable Cu Enrichment Enables Designer Syngas Electrosynthesis from CO2“. This project was lead by Dr. Michael B. Ross, a CIFAR post-doctoral fellow co-supervised with Prof. Ted Sargent and Prof. Peidong Yang.
This paper explores syngas (a combination of carbon monoxide and hydrogen) production from the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide. It was found that by depositing different layers of copper on gold nanoneedles, one may control the ratio of CO/H2 production. Syngas is an important precursor to many synthetic fuels.