Turning carbon dioxide into useful chemicals to reduce climate change

What is it about?

Carbon dioxide is the most important greenhouse gas. Finding a way to turn it into useful chemicals can help reduce global warming. It is also good for the economy. A useful chemical that can be made from carbon dioxide is methanol. But making methanol from carbon dioxide is slow and complicated. Using substances called ‘catalysts can make the reaction faster. A promising chemical structure to make better catalysts is the “metal–organic framework” (MOF). In this study, the authors prepared new cobalt and indium catalysts using MOFs. This new catalyst can directly convert carbon dioxide into methanol. It can produce large amounts of methanol. It also produces fewer side products and is more stable.

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Photo by Adrian Balasoiu on Unsplash

Photo by Adrian Balasoiu on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Fighting climate change is not just about reducing our carbon dioxide emissions. We also need to find ways to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. Converting this carbon dioxide into useful chemicals is not just ecofriendly, but it is economical too. But current catalysts to convert carbon dioxide into methanol have poor stability and selectivity. This study shows how using MOFs can help make better catalysts. This will improve the commercial production of methanol from carbon dioxide and help remove it from our atmosphere. KEY TAKEAWAY: Removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere will help reduce the effects of climate change. It is eco friendly and economical to use this carbon dioxide to make methanol. Cobalt and indium catalysts made from MOFs can produce a large amount of methanol from carbon dioxide. They also produce fewer side products and are more stable.