A method of carbon dioxide hydrogenation comprises introducing gaseous water to a positive electrode of an electrolysis cell comprising the positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a proton-conducting membrane between the positive electrode and the negative electrode. The proton-conducting membrane comprises an electrolyte material having an ionic conductivity greater than or equal to about 102 S/cm at one or more temperatures within a range of from about 150 C. to about 650 C. Carbon dioxide is introduced to the negative electrode of the electrolysis cell. A potential difference is applied between the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the electrolysis cell to generate hydrogen ions from the gaseous water that diffuse through the proton-conducting membrane and hydrogenate the carbon dioxide at the negative electrode. A carbon dioxide hydrogenation system is also described.

Described herein is a process for the reduction of carbon dioxide comprising: providing an electrochemical device comprising an anode, a cathode, and a polymeric anion exchange membrane therebetween, wherein the polymeric anion exchange membrane comprises an anion exchange polymer, wherein the anion exchange polymer comprises at least one positively charged group selected from a guanidinium, a guanidinium derivative, an N-alkyl conjugated heterocyclic cation, or combinations thereof; introducing a composition comprising carbon dioxide to the cathode; and applying electrical energy to the electrochemical device to effect electrochemical reduction of the carbon dioxide.

A method for electrochemical hydrogenation comprises introducing an organic feed material to an electrochemical cell. The electrochemical cell comprises a membrane electrode assembly comprising an anion exchange membrane, a cathode in electrical contact with a first side of the anion exchange membrane, and an anode in electrical contact with a second side of the anion exchange membrane opposite the first side of the anion exchange membrane. A current passes through the membrane electrode assembly to convert molecules in the organic feed material to a reduced product comprising reduced molecules containing a higher proportion of hydrogen than the organic feed material. A method of forming a membrane electrode assembly comprises forming an ink mixture comprising carbon and a resin, providing droplets of the ink mixture on a substrate to form a decal, and disposing the decal in contact with an anion exchange membrane.

Novel crystalline porous materials known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and methods for their synthesis are provided herein. The MOFs include a M.sub.6(.sub.3-OH).sub.8(OH).sub.8(.sup.2,.sup.2-(O.sub.2C).sub.2cyclam).sub.8 cluster, and a metal atom coordinated to the one or more cyclam of the cluster, wherein M is Zr or Hf, and the metal atom is any one of Cu, Ni, Cr, Ru, Co, and Gd. The MOFs can be used as an adsorbent, alone or in a medium with other components, of CO.sub.2. The MOFs can also be used as a catalyst for the transformation of CO.sub.2 and epoxides to cyclic carbonates. The MOFs can also be used in the electrochemical catalytic reduction of CO.sub.2. The MOFs can also be used for photocatalytic CO.sub.2 reduction for the production of carbon-based fossil fuels. The MOFs can also be used for light-induced nitric oxide (NO) release. The MOFs can also be used as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) agents.

The disclosure relates to a method for depolymerizing lignin. The method includes reacting a lignin compound with a thiol compound to depolymerize the lignin compound and to form a depolymerized lignin product having a reduced molecular weight relative to the lignin compound prior to reacting. The method can further include forming an oxidized thiol reaction product between two thiol groups from one or more thiol compounds, and then reducing the oxidized thiol reaction product to re-form or regenerate the thiol compound for further lignin depolymerization.

The present invention provides a method of generating organic compounds and an organic-compound-generating system capable of efficiently generating organic-compounds even under a low-temperature environment by controlling a pH of an aqueous solution within a range from 5 to 10 during electrolysis in a case generating organic compounds by electrolyzing the aqueous solution containing carbon dioxide.

The present embodiments provide: a reduction catalyst having high reaction efficiency, a reduction reactor including the same and a reduction method using the same. This catalyst includes a conductor and an organic layer comprises organic modifying groups capable of binding to the surface of the conductor, wherein the organic modifying groups contain a nitrogen-containing heterocycle.

Various embodiments include an electrode comprising: a solid electrolyte; and a metal M selected from the group of metals consisting of: Cu, Ag, Au, and Pd. The solid electrolyte is selected from the group consisting of: germanium disulfide, germanium diselenide, germanium sulfide, germanium selenide, tungsten trioxide, silver(I) sulfide, silicon dioxide, yttrium-stabilized zirconium(IV) oxide, polysulfone, polybenzoxazole, and polyimide.

Provided are methods and systems for electrochemical reduction of carbon sources including, for example, carbon dioxide and carbonates. The methods and systems use a catalyst. The catalyst may comprise metals such as Fe (iron), and Ti (titanium), Ni (nickel), and Zn (zinc) and/or oxides thereof. The metals may be disposed in an aluminosilicate. The catalyst may be a porous volcanic tuff based material. The methods and systems can be used to produce various carbon-source, reduction products.

An electrolytic cell for carbon dioxide of an embodiment includes: an anode part including an anode to oxidize water or a hydroxide ion and thus produce oxygen and an anode solution flow path to supply an anode solution to the anode; a cathode part including a cathode to reduce carbon dioxide and thus produce a carbon compound, a cathode solution flow path to supply a cathode solution to the cathode, a gas flow path to supply the carbon dioxide to the cathode, and a hydrophobic porous body disposed between the cathode and the gas flow path; and a separator to separate the anode part and the cathode part from each other.