CHEMICAL CONSULTANTS NETWORK

Professor Andrew Bocarsly, Department of Chemistry Princeton University

Virtual Meeting of the Princeton ACS Section

Tuesday, October 26, 2021 6:30pm (via GoToMeeting)

Abstract - In recent years, a number of strategies have been put forward to both reduce the emission of CO₂ into the environment and utilize what has traditionally been considered “waste” CO₂ for the development of new materials, chemical feedstocks, and fuels. To this end, electrochemical reduction of aqueous CO₂ to organics appears attractive. However, this chemistry has been severally limited by a lack of efficient electrocatalysts. This deficiency has meant that one often cannot produce the compounds of interest. In cases where a path to the target compound was available, the lack of appropriate catalysts meant that excessive electrode potentials needed to be employed and that water could not be employed as the electrolyte. These two parameters dramatically impact the cost of electrochemical CO₂ conversion.

To date, the only material reported to be an efficient electrode for CO₂ reduction is copper metal. This presentation will focus on work in our labs at Princeton University that has now revealed that binary intermetallic compounds composed of a first row transition metal and a post transition metal such as aluminum or gallium provide a new source of heterogeneous electrocatalysts for the reduction of CO₂ to form a variety of C1 and C2+ organic products.

Biography - Andrew Bocarsly received his BS degree jointly in chemistry and physics from UCLA in 1976, and his Ph.D. in chemistry from M.I.T. in 1980. He has been a member of the Princeton University, Chemistry Department faculty for thirty-nine years and holds affiliations with Princeton’s Materials Institute, Princeton’s Environmental Institute and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Professor Bocarsly has published over 225 papers and co-authored over a dozen patents. Research in his laboratory is focused on electrochemistry and photoelectrochemistry for the conversion of carbon dioxide to fuels and feedstocks; new materials for electrochemistry and molecular multielectron photoinduced charge transfer processes. 

Professor Bocarsly serves as a consultant to various alternate energy companies. He co-founded Liquid Light Inc., a company formed to commercialize the formation of organic commodity chemicals from CO₂. Professor Bocarsly has received an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, the Sigma Xi (Princeton Section) Science Educator Award, and the American Chemical Society-Exxon Solid State Chemistry award. He has served on the Advisory Board for the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, has edited a volume for Structure and Bonding in the area of fuel cells and batteries, and served as the electrochemistry editor for Methods in Materials Research. He currently sits on the editorial advisory board of Journal of CO₂ Utilization, and the international advisory board of the International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization. He is a fellow of the American Scientific Affilation.

Registration - Access to the meeting is free but registration for the event is required. To register go to our website at https://www.princeton-acs.org/events/pacs-october-26-meeting .Prior to the meeting, a link to join the GoTo meeting will be sent to all those who register.  For questions contact louise.lawter@gmail.com.