Abstract
Rising levels of anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere have led to extreme environmental effects. The electrochemical conversion of CO2 offers an attractive route to the production of useful products and liquid fuels such as CO, methanol or formate. I will show my group’s recent research in utilizing both organic species (imidazolium ionic liquids)1 and transition metal molecular catalysts (Mn, Mo)2, 3, 4 in homo- and heterogeneous electrocatalytic CO2 reduction. Mechanistic insights are gleaned using a combination of cyclic voltammetry, bulk electrolysis measurements, and in-situ spectroelectrochemical (SEC) techniques (UV/Vis, FTIR, SERS), and the development of novel SEC approaches is discussed.1, 5 I will also discuss prospects of using heterogeneous materials with the capability to perform combined carbon capture/pre-concentration as well as electrocatalysis.
References
1 Usai et al., in preparation.
2 Walsh et al., Chem. Commun., 2014, 50, 12698
3 Walsh et al., Faraday Disc., 2015, 183, 147.
4 Walsh et al., Organometallics, 2018, DOI: 10.1021/acs.organomet.8b00336.
5 Walsh et al., PCCP, 2018, 20, 6811.
Biography
Jamie is a materials scientist with extensive expertise with materials for energy conversion. His research interests include small molecule photo- and electrocatalytic transformations for solar fuel synthesis (CO2 reduction and water splitting), 2D materials, polymers, polyoxometalates and in-situ analysis using spectroelectrochemistry.
After a BSc and PhD in DCU, Jamie undertook postdoctoral positions at the Queen’s University, Belfast, and the University of Liverpool. In October 2016 Jamie returned to DCU to establish his independent research group when made PI of a highly prestigious SFI SIRG fellowship.
Jamie has published multiple articles in high quality peer reviewed journals, delivered presentations at national and international conferences, and has reviewed extensively for the RSC, ACS and NPG. He is a member of the RSC and the ISE.