Plenary Speaker
Biography
After a Ph.D. at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris (1984), a post-doctoral internship at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm (1985-1986), 20 years as Professor of Chemistry at University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble (1988-2008), Marc Fontecave is, since 2009, Professeur at Collège de France, Paris, holder of the Chair of Chemistry of Biological Processes. He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences since 2005 and of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences since 2019. His research focuses on the study of catalysts (homogeneous, heterogeneous, bioinspired) and biocatalysts (metalloenzymes and artificial enzymes) as well as electrochemical devices for water splitting and the valorization of carbon dioxide as strategies for chemical storage of renewable energies (artificial photosynthesis).
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The New Carbon Economy: Direct and Indirect Electroconversion of CO2 into Organic Chemicals
Marc FONTECAVE
Abstract
Conversion of carbon dioxide into hydrocarbons and alcohols using renewable electricity as an energy source is an attractive strategy for storing renewable energies into the form of chemical energy (a fuel) and using CO2 as a raw material for the synthesis of chemical products. However, CO2 activation is a complex process requiring multiple electron and proton transfers, especially for complex molecules, which can be controlled only with specific catalysts. Finding new stable, efficient and selective catalysts for CO2 reduction is critical in order to make this strategy a practical industrial option. Here we discuss our ongoing research on CO2 electrolysis using Cu-based catalytic materials aiming at producing ethylene and ethanol [1, 2, 3]. Another promising scenario, also discussed here, involves an indirect route coupling selective electroreduction of CO2 into CO together with valorization of CO within thermal or electrochemical reactors [4, 5, 6]. Finally, we will also discuss our efforts to minimize overpotentials at the anode with the development of novel efficient water oxidation catalysts based on Ni and Fe oxides [7, 8].
References
[1] N.H. Tran et al. , Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 116, 9735 (2019)
[2] D. Wakerley et al., Nature Materials 18, 1222 (2019)
[3] D. Karapinar et al., Angew. Chem. 58, 15098 (2019)
[4] L. Ponsard et al., ChemSusChem , 14, 2198 (2021)
[5] Ngoc-Huan Tran et al. ACS Appl. Mat. Int., 14, 31933(2022)
[6] Hong Phong Duong et al. ACS Catalysis, 12, 10285 (2022)
[7] A. Peugeot, Joule, 5, 1281 (2021)
[8] A. Peugeot, ChemElectroChem, 9, e202200148 (2022)