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Carbon Nano‐Onions Made Directly from CO 2 by Molten Electrolysis for Greenhouse Gas Mitigation
Author(s) -
Liu Xinye,
Ren Jiawen,
Licht Gad,
Wang Xirui,
Licht Stuart
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
advanced sustainable systems
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.499
H-Index - 24
ISSN - 2366-7486
DOI - 10.1002/adsu.201900056
Subject(s) - electrolysis , carbon fibers , nucleation , chemical engineering , carbonate , greenhouse gas , materials science , yield (engineering) , cathode , chemistry , metallurgy , nanotechnology , electrode , composite material , electrolyte , organic chemistry , composite number , geology , engineering , oceanography
A high yield, low energy synthesis of carbon nano‐onions (CNOs) by electrolysis of CO 2 in molten carbonate is presented. Carbon nano‐onions are a recently recognized, less studied morphology of carbon nanomaterials consisting of nested concentric carbon spheroids. Previously, a high yield growth of carbon nanotubes by CO 2 electrolysis in molten carbonate was achieved through transition metal nucleation points on the electrolysis cathode. Here, effective low energy CNO synthesis from CO 2 is achieved instead by excluding those nucleating agents from the molten carbonate growth medium resulting in a profusion of uniform CNOs, with an increasing diameter correlated to increasing growth time. CO 2 transformation to valuable materials, such as CNOs, adds value to CO 2 to incentivize consumption of this greenhouse pollutant. For example, CNOs are currently valued 20 000 times higher than coal.