Yeungnam University’s Geunhyung Kim Publishes in Leading Journal... Develops Eco-Friendly Catalyst System Using Solar Energy

"Contributing to the Foundation for Carbon Neutrality"

Yeungnam University (President Choi Oechul) announced on October 23 that a research paper, with Geunhyung Kim from the Department of Chemistry as the first author, was published in the world-renowned materials chemistry journal Journal of Materials Chemistry A (IF 9.5) on September 3.

The paper, titled "Function-orchestrated CaO/BiVO4/rGO interfaces for efficient CO2 methanation via coupled charge separation and adsorptive activation," presents the development of an eco-friendly catalytic system that converts carbon dioxide (CO2) into methane (CH4) using solar energy.

Geunhyung Kim, Department of Chemistry, Yeungnam University

The research team fabricated a composite catalyst by combining calcium oxide (CaO), bismuth vanadate (BiVO4), and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) through a self-assembly process. This catalyst was designed to operate efficiently by assigning distinct roles to each material (function-orchestrated).

Calcium oxide serves to effectively capture carbon dioxide, bismuth vanadate absorbs visible light to initiate the reaction, and reduced graphene oxide facilitates rapid electron transfer, thereby accelerating the reaction rate. As a result, the inefficiency caused by electron-hole recombination was reduced, leading to approximately 3.6 times higher methane production efficiency compared to conventional BiVO4 catalysts. Furthermore, the catalyst maintained high stability even after multiple repeated experiments.

Notably, this study has gained attention for revealing a new reaction pathway in which carbon dioxide is directly converted into methane without passing through formate or methanol intermediates. In addition, by utilizing calcium oxide derived from seashells and low-cost graphene material (rGO), the research demonstrated high efficiency and durability without the use of precious metals, thus suggesting a new direction for environmentally friendly and cost-effective catalyst design.

Geunhyung Kim stated, "It is very meaningful for me as an undergraduate student to have research I led published in a world-class journal. I hope this achievement will contribute to the advancement of carbon recycling technologies using solar energy and hydrogen."

Kang Misook, professor in the Department of Chemistry and supervising professor, commented, "This research is a technology that converts carbon dioxide into useful fuel using solar energy, and it will serve as an important foundation for achieving carbon neutrality."

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