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Research

The continuous use of fossil carbon sources is not only limited by their limited quantity and thus not sustainable, but also constantly increases the CO₂ content of the atmosphere, thus further driving climate change. The use of CO₂ as a raw material enables a closed carbon cycle and thus offers a solution to these two problems.

Within the framework of the Palkovits group a series of highly active, porous, polymer-based single-site catalysts for CO₂ hydrogenation to and hydrogen generation from formic acid has already been developed. However, the various catalyst systems still present challenges for a technical implementation. Examples are the pronounced swelling and shrinking behavior, problems in shaping and the strong pressure drop that occurs especially in technically interesting continuously operated reactors. By forming inorganic-organic hybrid materials and varying the crosslinking within the polymers, these immobilized molecular catalysts are to be made technically usable.

Main research topics:

• Single-site catalysts ("Covalent Triazene Frameworks" COFs, and polyphosphines)
• Continuous liquid and gas phase decomposition of formic acid
• Synthesis of inorganic-organic hybrid catalyst materials