Harnessing Sunlight to Transform CO₂ into Sustainable Liquid Fuels

Converting waste CO₂ into long‑chain hydrocarbons offers a sustainable drop‑in fuel for heavy transport, enabling decarbonization with minimal disruption to existing infrastructure. Thermal catalysis remains the most viable approach for directly converting CO2 to hydrocarbons via CO2‑Fischer Tropsch Synthesis (CO2‑FTS). CO2‑FTS as a tandem reaction encompasses CO2 activation to CO, followed by hydrogenation to CHx fragments which can then couple to form hydrocarbon chains under Fischer Tropsch synthesis (FTS). Nevertheless, liquid fuel synthesis (such as the kerosene fraction (C8‑C16) that function as jet fuel precursors) underpinned by long chain hydrocarbon production is challenging.

Recent works demonstrate the potential of visible light irradiation for light‑induced benefits, enhancing hydrocarbon production via CO2‑FTS under high pressure conditions.^{1, 2} These findings indicate significant opportunities to harness sunlight for simultaneous heat and carrier excitation to tune the CO₂‑FTS hydrocarbon distribution. A strategy for directly converting CO2 to long chained hydrocarbons is to employ rationally designed bimetallic catalysts.^{3, 4} To this end, the ratio and interaction between the different metals can impact CO2 conversion and carbon coupling.

The appointed student will work alongside experienced researchers and HDR students within a diverse research group, as well as engineering professionals from industry R&D partners. The student will gain hands‑on experience in catalyst synthesis, materials characterisation, and process operation, while also being exposed to reactor system establishment and complex product quantification at bench scale.