Publications by Kun Zhao | EPFL Graph Search

Selective electroreduction of CO2 to C2+ products on cobalt decorated copper catalysts

Cu-catalyzed electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) to multi-carbon (C2+) products is often plagued by low selectivity because the adsorption energies of different reaction intermediates are in a linear scaling relationship. Development of Cu-based ...

2024

Support-Dependent Cu-In Bimetallic Catalysts for Tailoring the Activity of Reverse Water Gas Shift Reaction

Thi Ha My Pham, Kun Zhao, Wen Luo, Mo Li, Youngdon Ko, Liping Zhong

Cu-based bimetallic catalysts have attracted great attention for the reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction due to their high activity and selectivity. This work reports the application of Cu-In bimetallic catalysts for the RWGS reaction and demonstrates ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2022

Monocarborane cluster as a stable fluorine-free calcium battery electrolyte

Andreas Züttel, Kun Zhao

High-energy-density and low-cost calcium (Ca) batteries have been proposed as 'beyond-Li-ion' electrochemical energy storage devices. However, they have seen limited progress due to challenges associated with developing electrolytes showing reductive/oxida ...

Nature Portfolio2021

Hydrogen Storage by Reduction of CO2 to Synthetic Hydrocarbons

Andreas Züttel, Kun Zhao, Wen Luo, Noris André Gallandat, Jie Zhang

The storage of renewable energy is crucial for the substitution of fossil fuels with renewable energy. Hydrogen is the first step in the conversion of electricity from renewable sources to an energy carrier. However, hydrogen is technically and economicall ...

2021

Direct CO2 Capture and Reduction to High-End Chemicals with Tetraalkylammonium Borohydrides

Loris Giovanni Lombardo, Andreas Züttel, Kun Zhao, Heena Yang, Youngdon Ko

We demonstrate the ability of tetraalkylammonium borohydrides to capture large amounts of CO2, even at low CO2 concentrations, and reduce it to formate under ambient conditions. These materials show CO2 absorption capacities up to 30 mmolCO2 g(-1) at room ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2021

Mechanisms of the Heterogeneously Catalyzed Reaction of CO2 Hydrogenation on Transition Metal Surfaces

Kun Zhao

Renewable energy supply and energy storage in a closed materials cycle are the urgent global challenges of the 21st century. Carbon dioxide (CO2) hydrogenation over catalysts is a method to produce synthetic fuels from renewable energy in a CO2 neutral cyc ...

EPFL2020

CO2 Hydrogenation over Unsupported Fe-Co Nanoalloy Catalysts

Andreas Züttel, Kun Zhao, Nicola Patelli, Robin Tobias Andreas Mutschler, Marco Calizzi

The thermo-catalytic synthesis of hydrocarbons from CO2 and H2 is of great interest for the conversion of CO2 into valuable chemicals and fuels. In this work, we aim to contribute to the fundamental understanding of the effect of alloying on the reaction y ...

2020

Electrochemical reconstruction of ZnO for selective reduction of CO2 to CO

Andreas Züttel, Kun Zhao, Wen Luo, Emanuele Moioli, Jie Zhang, Qin Zhang

Electrocatalytic conversion of CO2 to valuable chemicals is a highly promising route to close the carbon cycle. Herein, Zn catalysts derived from electrochemical reconstruction of ZnO materials are presented as efficient CO2-to-CO catalysts. We found that ...

2020

Imaging Catalysis: Operando Investigation of the CO2 Hydrogenation Reaction Dynamics by Means of Infrared Thermography

Emad Oveisi, Loris Giovanni Lombardo, Andreas Züttel, Kun Zhao, Robin Tobias Andreas Mutschler, Emanuele Moioli

Infrared thermography is a powerful tool to investigate the dynamic evolution of temperature in chemical reactions. The CO2 hydrogenation reaction is an ideal model reaction to assess the presented technique due to its high exothermicity. Various dynamic e ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2020

Solvent- and Catalyst-Free Carbon Dioxide Capture and Reduction to Formate with Borohydride Ionic Liquid

Paul Joseph Dyson, Loris Giovanni Lombardo, Andreas Züttel, Kun Zhao, Heena Yang

The Cover Feature shows the application of a pyrrolidinium-based ionic liquid with a borohydride anion to simultaneously capture and reduce large amounts of CO2. The ionic liquid cation interacts with CO2, allowing the borohydride to fix and reduce it to t ...

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH2020

Unraveling and optimizing the metal-metal oxide synergistic effect in a highly active Co (CoO)1– catalyst for CO2 hydrogenation

Loris Giovanni Lombardo, Alexandre Borsay, Andreas Züttel, Kun Zhao, Robin Tobias Andreas Mutschler, Marco Calizzi, Wen Luo, Emanuele Moioli, Mo Li

The relation between catalytic reactivities and metal/metal oxide ratios, as well as the functions of the metal and the metal oxides were investigated in the CO2 hydrogenation reaction over highly active Cox(CoO)1–x catalysts in operando. The catalytic rea ...

2020

Thermal stability of size-selected copper nanoparticles: Effect of size, support and CO2 hydrogenation atmosphere

Alexandre Borsay, Andreas Züttel, Kun Zhao, Mostapha Dakhchoune, Wen Luo, Mo Li

Metal nanoparticles with a precisely controlled particle size distribution are ideal model catalysts for fundamental studies in catalysis. In this work, the thermal stability of size-selected Cu nanoparticles (Cu NPs) were deposited by magnetron sputtering ...

2020

Identifying Reaction Species by Evolutionary Fitting and Kinetic Analysis: An Example of CO2 Hydrogenation in DRIFTS

Andreas Züttel, Kun Zhao, Ligang Wang, Marco Calizzi, Emanuele Moioli

Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) investigations of molecules at the surface of catalysts exhibit a strong overlap of the adsorption peaks. Therefore, the investigation of the CO2 hydrogenation on a highly active catalyst ...

2019

The role of malachite nanorods for the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to C-2 hydrocarbons

Emad Oveisi, Andreas Züttel, Kun Zhao, Mariana Spodaryk, Jie Zhang

The electrochemical reduction of CO2 to higher hydrocarbons is a very challenging process that has high potential for the storage of large amounts of renewable energy with a high gravimetric and volumetric energy density. The distribution of hydrocarbons f ...

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD2019

In situ Control of the Adsorption Species in CO2 Hydrogenation: Determination of Intermediates and Byproducts

Andreas Züttel, Kun Zhao, Ligang Wang, Marco Calizzi, Emanuele Moioli

CO2 hydrogenation over catalysts is a potentially exciting method to produce fuels while closing the CO2 cycle and mitigating global warming. The mechanism of this process has been controversial due to the difficulty in clearly identifying the species pres ...

2018