人工光合作用应用前景广泛.docx

The excessive atmospheric1 carbon dioxide that is driving global climate change could be harnessed into a renewable energy technology that would be a win for both the environment and the economy. That is the lure2 of artificial photosynthesis3 in which the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide is used to produce clean, green and sustainable fuels. However, finding a catalyst4 for reducing carbon dioxide that is highly selective and efficient has proven to be a huge scientific challenge. Meeting this challenge in the future should be easier thanks to new research results from Berkeley Lab. Peidong Yang, a chemist with Berkeley Labs Materials Sciences Division, led a study in which bimetallic nanoparticles of gold and copper5 were used as the catalyst for the carbon dioxide reduction. The results experimentally revealed for the first time the critical influence of the electronic and geometric effects in the reduction reaction.Acting6 synergistically, the electronic and geometric effects dictate7 the binding8 strength for reaction intermediates and consequently the catalytic selectivity and efficiency in the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide, Yang says. In the future, the design of carbon dioxide reduction catalysts9 with good activity and selectivity will require the careful balancing of these two effects as revealed in our study.Yang, who also holds appointments with the University of California (UC) Berkeley and the Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute at Berkeley, is a leading authority on nanoparticle phenomena10. His most recent research has focused on nanocatalysts fashioned from metal alloys11 rather than a single metal such as gold, tin or copper.Nanoscience expert Peidong Yang holds appointments with Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley and the Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute at Berkeley. (Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt)By alloying, we believe we can tune12 the binding strength of intermediates on a catalyst surface to enhance the reaction kinetics for the