Carbon dioxide (CO₂) can be harmful to the environment in large amounts but can be used in the production of fuels and other useful chemicals. Doing so isn't easy, though. Now, Yale researchers have developed a new way to combine electrocatalysis and plasma to efficiently and practically generate a number of valuable products from the gas. The results are published in Nature Catalysis.
Gymnastics might not be a bad alagory for catalysis. It’s all about getting the molecules lined up to make the reactions easier than relying on heat and random collisions to get you there.