The Pennsylvania State University received a $598,638 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) on May 15, 2024. The award aims to advance the fundamental understanding of plasma-enhanced catalysis processes, with a focus on using non-thermal plasma to enable the hydrogenation of CO2 into higher hydrocarbons. The project combines experimental methods from plasma science and heterogeneous catalysis with atomistic-scale simulations to elucidate the complex coupled interactions between the plasma, catalyst, and reactant molecules. Key goals include elucidating the relationship between plasma characteristics and catalyst configuration/composition, understanding how plasma influences gas-phase radical reactions, and clarifying the role of catalyst active sites in the observed plasma-catalyst synergy. The insights gained will be incorporated into undergraduate and graduate coursework at Penn State, as well as used to develop computational and experimental outreach activities targeting middle-school and college students. This work seeks to accelerate the development of more energy-efficient, plasma-based technologies as alternatives to conventional thermal processes for CO2 utilization in future decarbonized energy and chemical industries.
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