Photocatalyst Promises Greener Syngas Single-atom “antenna reactor” system could reduce carbon footprint

摘要

A LIGHT-POWERED copper nanoparticle dotted with single atoms of ruthenium is the key component in a green process for making syngas,say researchers from Rice University,Houston;University of California,Los Angeles(UCLA);and the University of California,Santa Barbara(UCSB).“Syngas can be made in many ways,but one of those,methane dry reforming,is increasingly important because the chemical inputs are methane and carbon dioxide,two potent and problematic greenhouse gases,” explains Naomi Halas,director of Rice’s Laboratory for Nanophotonics(LANP),who worked on the project.Dry reforming hasn’t been attractive to industry because it typically requires even higher temperatures and more energy than steam-based methods,adds Linan Zhou,a postdoctoral researcher at LANR.