KIT produces graphene from carbon dioxide

 

 

A working group of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; Karlsruhe, Germany) is using carbon dioxide as a starting material to produce graphene, according to the researchers’ report in the journal ChemSusChem. 

The scientists say they have developed a process in which the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂), together with hydrogen, is directly transferred into the technology material graphene with the aid of specially prepared, catalytically active metal surfaces at temperatures of up to 1,000°C.

“If the metal surface has the right balance of copper and palladium, the conversion of carbon dioxide to graphene will take place directly in a simple one-step process,” says study leader Professor Mario Ruben of the Molecular Materials Working Group at the Institute of Nanotechnology (INT; Evanston, Ill., U.S.) and at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry (AOC) of KIT.

In further experiments, the researchers produced the graphene with several layers of thickness, targeting possible applications in batteries, electronic components or filter materials. The next research goal of the working group is to shape functioning electronic components from the graphene obtained.

Graphene is the two-dimensional form of the chemical element carbon, which has electrical properties and enables powerful batteries. Learn more about graphene and other nanomaterials, and their use in nanocomposites, in “Nanomaterials: Products, supply chain mature for next-gen composites.”

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