Domestic researchers succeeded in producing high-purity butanol from carbon dioxide.
The National Research Foundation of Korea announced on 17th that a research team led by Professor Lee Hyo-young of Sungkyunkwan University has developed Carbon Capture Utilization (CCU) technology to convert carbon dioxide into high-value-added compounds using new visible light catalysts. CCU refers to the technology of capturing and utilizing carbon dioxide.
The research team combined a new engineering technique with a photocatalytic method to convert carbon dioxide into useful resources like butanol. This successfully produced butanol with a four-carbon chain from carbon dioxide molecules with a selectivity of up to 60%.
First, the research team created a new visible light catalyst by combining cerium oxide (111), which is a promising photocatalyst for carbon dioxide reduction but has limitations due to instability, with copper oxide (100), which has excellent charge separation characteristics. Additionally, they precisely controlled the crystal surface of copper oxide to enhance selectivity for butanol.
Professor Lee Hyo-young noted, "This offers a clear perspective to understand interfacial effects for enhancing photocatalytic performance and provides valuable insights for sustainable chemical production," and added, "By commercializing carbon dioxide, which is a major contributor to global warming, into high-value-added compounds, we expect to take a step closer to achieving carbon neutrality to solve humanity's challenges."
References
Applied Catalysis B: Environment and Energy (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2025.125122