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Date of Award

Fall 2025

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Department or Program Affiliation

Chemistry

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Chemistry

First Advisor

Bussell, Mark E.

Second Advisor

Berger, Robert F.

Third Advisor

Emory, Steven R.

Abstract

Research on solar fuel production holds promise to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Using the reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) reaction, carbon dioxide (CO2) is reacted with hydrogen (H2) to form carbon monoxide (CO) and water (H2O) with the primary energy input coming from sunlight. The resultant CO can then be converted into long chain hydrocarbons by methods such as the Fischer-Tropsch process.

Nickel phosphide (Ni2P) was synthesized on a range of metal oxide supports (MxOy) by phosphine (PH3) reduction and characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared (UV-Vis-NIR) spectroscopy, nitrogen physisorption, CO and CO2 chemisorption, and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Examined metal oxides were chosen to span a wide range of reducibilities, with alumina (Al2O3), silica (SiO2), and zirconia (ZrO2) being low-reducibility insulators, titania (TiO2) being a moderately reducible semiconductor, and ceria (CeO2) and indium oxide (In2O3) being high-reducibility semiconductors. Catalysts were then tested in a photocatalytic reactor system to observe the effects of different supports on CO2 conversion activity and selectivity.

It was observed that in light with external heating to 150 °C, the activity of 2.5 wt% Ni2P/MxOy catalysts showed a trend of increasing CO2 conversion activity and decreasing CO selectivity with increasing oxide reducibility. However, two notable results were observed for the most reducible oxides, with 2.5 wt% Ni2P/CeO2 having the highest activity and poor CO selectivity, and 2.5 wt% Ni2P/In2O3 having high activity and near 100% CO selectivity.

Type

Text

Keywords

RWGS, heterogenous catalysis, reducible oxide, nickel phosphide, aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, zirconium oxide, titanium oxide, cerium oxide, indium oxide, photocatalysis, carbon dioxide

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

1565076187

Subject – LCSH

Heterogeneous catalysis; Nickel compounds; Phosphides; Metallic oxides; Photocatalysis; Hydrogenation; Water-gas; Carbon dioxide

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

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