Research Projects

The reductive conversion of CO2 into value-added chemicals is a promising approach to address environmental issues and promote a carbon-neutral economy. However, there is a need for efficient catalysts for CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) that minimize energy consumption. Renewable energy-powered CO2RR can help India reach its net-zero CO2 emission target by 2070. Despite extensive research, challenges remain in efficiency, product selectivity, and competition with hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). CO2RR requires high energy, which can be reduced by using multiple electrons and protons together. To design an efficient CO2RR, the rational strategy is to enhance the kinetics of proton transfer or delay electron transfer kinetics. Relaying electron transfer in the PCET mechanism via Z-scheme is a viable option, as electron crossing at heterojunction is a slow process. The proposal is to utilize electrochemical CO2RR coupled with water oxidation, where the water oxidation occurs at the anode and the H+ flux moves through ion exchange membrane to the cathode, where CO2RR occurs. The cathode catalyst will be developed using polyoxometalates (POMs)-based composite materials and ternary metal sulfide catalyst for effective CO2RR and high selectivity towards methanol. POMs efficiently transfer multiple electrons and protons simultaneously, and their weak basic surface can form hydrogen bond networks near CO2 coordination, favoring the PCET mechanism. The objective is to design a morphologically tuned and controllable POM-ternary metal sulfide-based electrocatalyst for CO2RR, where POM serves as an electron mediator to control electron transfer to the active binding site of CO2RR.