TOMSK, Feb 26 – RIA Tomsk. Scientists
of Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) with colleagues from Czech
universities proposed a new way of utilizing carbon dioxide (CO2) from
the atmosphere using plasmon energy; their method involves the
production of organic compounds from CO2, which are used in various
fields, including the creation of drugs, the TPU website reported.
The
increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere is a global
environmental problem. Usually, the solution focuses on measures to
reduce CO2 emissions. An alternative option is to use carbon dioxide,
which is already in the atmosphere, for beneficial chemical
transformations, the polytechnics explain.
"Researchers
have found a way to use atmospheric carbon dioxide to produce cyclic
carbonates. These are organic compounds that are used as electrolytes
for lithium-ion batteries, green solvents, and in the creation of
drugs", – the report said.
The press service explains that
scientists have succeeded in synthesizing carbonates under the
influence of light and at room temperature, while traditional methods
involve synthesis at high pressure and temperature. In the experiments,
the scientists used gold nanoparticles with grafted organic molecules of
a nitrogenous base and obtained cyclic carbonates by the interaction of
carbon dioxide and the initial substances – epoxides.
"Gold
nanoparticles have a plasmon effect. <...> The issue of the
mechanisms of plasmon chemistry itself is a hot scientific topic. A
number of our previous articles are devoted to this area of research.
Control experiments allowed us to assume that the excitation of a
plasmon on particles leads to the transfer of energy to captured CO2
molecule without heating", – TPU scientist Olga Guselnikova is quoted in
the message.
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It is noted that the study and experiments
have demonstrated that the reaction can be carried out directly using
air without further purification or concentration of CO2 under normal
conditions under the influence of light. "And this always ultimately
makes the synthesis easier and more environmentally friendly", – is said
in the message.
It is specified that the study was
carried out by Tomsk polytechnics together with scientists from the
Prague University of Chemistry and Technology and Jan Evangelista
Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem (Czech Republic) with the support
of the Russian Science Foundation (RSF). The results of the study are
published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A (IF: 11,301; Q1).