Chapter 12 - Nanomaterials for CO2 conversion to valuable compounds

Abstract

Over the last century, global CO2 emissions have increased such that our planet’s environmental balance is in serious jeopardy. Given the desire to reduce emissions, and to capture, recycle, and convert some of the huge amounts of carbon that we emit into the atmosphere, some technological advances are showing some promise for achieving this aim. This chapter presents some examples to illustrate how specifically projected nanomaterials can respond to the challenges existing in capturing and efficiently converting CO2 by the selective reduction into products of energy value or appearing on a platform of chemicals. After citing the main compounds currently synthesized from CO2, the use of nanostructured catalysts modified with metals is presented as they enhance the captured behavior and improve the rate of CO2 conversion to produce valuable materials such as carbonates. Some mechanisms that describe the main path for carbonates and polycarbonates synthesis using CO2 are discussed, emphasizing the catalysts' roles. Special attention will be given to heterogenized catalytic systems obtained by ionic liquid immobilized onto nanostructured solids, such as titanate nanotubes and SBA-15