CO2 conversion covers a wide range of possible application areas from fuels to bulk and commodity chemicals and even to specialty products with biological activity such as pharmaceuticals. In the present review, we discuss selected examples in these areas in a combined analysis of the state-of-the-art of synthetic methodologies and processes with their life cycle assessment. Thereby, we attempted to assess the potential to reduce the environmental footprint in these application fields relative to the current petrochemical value chain. This analysis and discussion differs significantly from a viewpoint on CO2 utilization as a measure for global CO2 mitigation. Whereas the latter focuses on reducing the end-of-pipe problem “CO2 emissions” from todays’ industries, the approach taken here tries to identify opportunities by exploiting a novel feedstock that avoids the utilization of fossil resource in transition toward more sustainable future production. Thus, the motivation to develop CO2-based chemistry does...

Sustainable Conversion of Carbon Dioxide: An Integrated Review of Catalysis and Life Cycle Assessment

This paper reviews recent advances in chemical synthesis, self-assembly, and potential applications of monodisperse binary FePt nanoparticles. After a brief introduction to nanomagnetism and conventional processes of fabricating FePt nanoparticles, the paper focuses on recent developments in solution-phase syntheses of monodisperse FePt nanoparticles and their self-assembly into nanoparticle superlattices. The paper further outlines the surface, structural, and magnetic properties of the FePt nanoparticles and gives examples of three potential applications in data storage, permanent magnetic nanocomposites, and biomedicine.

Recent Advances in Chemical Synthesis, Self‐Assembly, and Applications of FePt Nanoparticles

Nanofabrication of magnetic storage media, where servo marks, discrete tracks or individual islands are defined, offer the prospect for improved performance and increased areal density. However, this increase in performance will require that new and additional processes be introduced into disk manufacturing. We review here the fundamental patterning and fabrication processes that have been proposed, along with their respective strengths and weaknesses and the potential advantages they may offer for magnetic recording. The increase in data density afforded by nanofabrication may have added significance as more conventional approaches to ever increasing density will encounter physical limitations set by the thermal stability of the recorded bits.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3727/38/12/R01/pdf

Nanofabricated and self-assembled magnetic structures as data storage media

The catalytic formation of cyclic organic carbonates (COCs) using carbon dioxide (CO2) as a renewable carbon feed stock is a highly vibrant area of research with an increasing amount of researchers focusing on this thematic investigation. These organic carbonates are highly useful building blocks and nontoxic reagents and are most commonly derived from CO2 coupling reactions with oxirane and dialcohol precursors using homogeneous catalysis methodologies. The activation of suitable reaction partners using catalysis as a key technology is a requisite for efficient CO2 conversion as its high kinetic stability poses a barrier to access functional organic molecules with added value in both academic and industrial laboratories. Although this area of science has been flourishing for at least a decade, in the past 2–3 years, significant advancements have been made to address the general reactivity and selectivity issues that are associated with the formation of COCs. Here, we present a concise overview of these a...

/pdf/recent-advances-in-the-catalytic-preparation-of-cyclic-3pch103ax0.pdf

Recent advances in the catalytic preparation of cyclic organic carbonates

Atomistic modelling of magnetic materials provides unprecedented detail about the underlying physical processes that govern their macroscopic properties, and allows the simulation of complex effects such as surface anisotropy, ultrafast laser-induced spin dynamics, exchange bias, and microstructural effects. Here we present the key methods used in atomistic spin models which are then applied to a range of magnetic problems. We detail the parallelization strategies used which enable the routine simulation of extended systems with full atomistic resolution.

/pdf/atomistic-spin-model-simulations-of-magnetic-nanomaterials-31j7wcva63.pdf

Atomistic spin model simulations of magnetic nanomaterials.

Sustainable metal-based catalysts for the synthesis of cyclic carbonates containing five-membered rings

We have studied the lattice parameter changes of L10 FePt nanoparticles annealed to near equilibrium as a function of composition by x-ray diffraction. We have found that the (111) diffraction peak shifts linearly with composition, however, the c parameter mostly changes in the Pt rich compositions and the a parameter mostly changes in the Fe rich compositions with respect to the equiatomic composition. This causes the tetragonality of the L10 structure to be maximized near the Fe 50%/Pt 50% composition. The magnetic properties were measured at room temperature and at 5 K and are correlated to the structural changes occurring as a function of composition.

Structural studies of L10 FePt nanoparticles

The development of inexpensive and sustainable aluminum(salen) complexes as catalysts for the kinetic resolution of terminal epoxides is described. The kinetic resolution is carried out under mild conditions (0–25 °C and 1 bar of CO2 pressure) in the presence of tetrabutylammonium bromide as co-catalyst in the absence of solvent. The relative rate of reaction of the two epoxide enantiomers (krel) is substrate dependent, and the highest krel obtained was 15.4, using N-(2,3-epoxypropyl)diphenylamine as substrate.

Aluminum(salen) Complexes as Catalysts for the Kinetic Resolution of Terminal Epoxides via CO2 Coupling

N,N′-Phenylenebis(5-tert-butylsalicylideneimine) is shown to be an effective single-component catalyst for the metal- and halide-free synthesis of cyclic carbonates from epoxides and carbon dioxide...

Metal- and Halide-Free Catalyst for the Synthesis of Cyclic Carbonates from Epoxides and Carbon Dioxide

Chromium and aluminium salphen complexes have been found to display remarkable catalytic activity in the synthesis of cyclic carbonates from a range of epoxides and carbon dioxide. The Al(salphen) complex is more reactive towards terminal epoxides at ambient temperature and pressure, whereas the Cr(salphen) complex exhibits higher catalytic activity towards more challenging internal epoxides at elevated temperature and pressure.

Xiao Wu

Papers

Sustainable metal-based catalysts for the synthesis of cyclic carbonates containing five-membered rings

Structural studies of L10 FePt nanoparticles

Aluminum(salen) Complexes as Catalysts for the Kinetic Resolution of Terminal Epoxides via CO2 Coupling

Metal- and Halide-Free Catalyst for the Synthesis of Cyclic Carbonates from Epoxides and Carbon Dioxide

Synthesis of Cyclic Carbonates Catalysed by Chromium and Aluminium Salphen Complexes