PREPARATION OF METAL NANOPARTICLES AS CATALYSTS IN THE CONVERSION OF CARBON DIOXIDE (CO₂) USEFUL PRODUCTS

Abstract

Swift industrial growth, technological progress, and innovation have caused a notable increase in global carbon emissions, contributing to the escalating issue of climate change. Carbon dioxide is among the crucial human-made emissions because of its heightened overabundance in the ecosystem. As nanotechnology progresses, adsorption is emerging as an efficient method for directly capturing and conversion CO2 using nanomaterials. Green synthesis provides a better option compared to conventional techniques for the creation of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles. On the other hand, from the perspective of green chemistry and achieving carbon footprint targets, the conversion of CO2 and various epoxides to organic cyclic carbonates under favorable conditions in the presence of suitable catalysts has been a very important goal. In this point, durable, easily available, affordable, non-toxic and functionalizable novel metal-oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4 , Ag and ZnO) were synthesized under mild conditions and then their structures were characterized by different analytical techniques (XRD, SEM, FT-IR, UV-Vis and others). Later, the structures of these metal oxide nanoparticles were revealed in detail and their CO2 capture properties were investigated using the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method. Also, these metal oxide nanoparticles were tested for their effectiveness as catalysts to synthesize target five-membered cyclic carbonates under atmospheric conditions in the coupling reaction of CO2 with different epoxides. This method has also been used as an alternative to phosgene gas, a toxic and expensive method for carbon neutrality.