Facile synthesis of mesoporous silica nanoparticles and its electrochemical conversion of CO2 to fuels

Abstract

The increasing amount of CO2 emissions from the industries is proving to have disastrous consequences on the environment. It would be highly beneficial if this CO2 is to be recycled and converted into useful fuel. The aim of this project involves synthesizing a suitable catalyst which can be used for the electrochemical (EC) conversion of CO2 to fuel. The developed catalyst should be mesoporous silica nanoparticles and loaded on to a metal oxide surface. The synthesis involved a relatively simple procedure of forming a homogenous mixture for the nanoparticles, drying the mixture for 2 days then loading on to the metal nitrate. Finally, multiple scans and tests were run on the synthesized sample to characterize its qualities. The results show that the synthesized mesoporous silica nanoparticles have suitable catalytic properties for electrochemical reduction of CO2 to fuel.