Geoffrey Ozin - The Story of CO2

Ozin and Ghoussoub take us on a captivating journey through the good, the bad, and the ugly of a quintessential molecule of our universe: CO2. The book provides a uniquely holistic view on CO2, spanning its multiple dimensions scientific, technological, socioeconomic, political and connects them into a comprehensive story. It will leave a lasting footprint on anyone susceptible to one of the greatest challenges of humankind: the renewable energy conundrum.

Bettina V. Lotsch, Nanochemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research

Ozin and Ghoussoub provide an interesting narrative of a small molecule with an outsized impact. Spanning the atomic to the applied, this book is easily accessible, making it appropriate for those who want to attain foundational knowledge key to understanding pressing energy and environmental issues and their effect on society.

Chad A. Mirkin, Director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology, Northwestern University

The Story of CO2 addresses possibly the most important issue facing the global community: anthropogenic CO2 and the consequent interrelated issues of energy, global and regional economies, and the ways in which we live and work. It presents the science in a clear and comprehensible way. It is not free from controversy and will stimulate argument and debate, but the story of CO2 is one that needs to be told and to which we all need to listen.

Richard Catlow, Department of Chemistry, University College London

This is a comprehensive yet easily understandable book that teaches about one of the most challenging problems human beings face carbon dioxide and the possible solutions. I highly recommend this excellent book.

Yi Cui, Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University

The Story of CO2 addresses the big picture of the role of CO2 in modern industry. It discusses cutting-edge scientific research on the greenhouse effect and its relation to climate change, with detailed discussion about the control of CO2 emissions and sustainable CO2 conversion.

Tierui Zhang, Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry (TIPC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This book is presented solely for educational purposes and is designed to provide helpful information on the subjects discussed. Though effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the information contained therein at the time the authors finished writing the book in October 2019, the authors and publisher do not warrant the contents of this manuscript to be free of unintentional errors or omissions.

Products and firms, institutions, agencies, and public offices mentioned are strictly illustrative examples. Being mentioned does not imply an explicit or implicit recommendation nor does it imply an explicit or implicit warranty. Likewise, the fact that a competing product, firm, institution, agency, or public office is not mentioned does not imply an explicit or implicit criticism nor does it imply an explicit or implicit concern.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: The story of CO2 : big ideas for a small molecule / Geoffrey A. Ozin and Mireille F. Ghoussoub.

Names: Ozin, Geoffrey A., author. | Ghoussoub, Mireille F., 1991 author.

Description: Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200285556 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200285750 | ISBN 9781487506360 (cloth) | ISBN 9781487533960 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781487533953 (PDF)

Subjects: LCSH: Carbon dioxide. | LCSH: Carbon dioxide mitigation Technological innovations.

Classification: LCC QD181.C1 O95 2020 | DDC 551.51/12 dc23

ISBN 978-1-4875-0636-0 (cloth)
ISBN 978-1-4875-3396-0 (EPUB)
ISBN 978-1-4875-3395-3 (PDF)

Printed in Canada

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario, for our publishing activities.

To our partners, Linda and Rafa

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.

Marie Skodowska Curie

Academic research scientists tend to have a reputation for being socially and politically disengaged. Somehow, even in 2019, the myth of the solitary, disheveled professor locked up in an office, drowning among stacks of dusty books, and scribbling incoherent notes on pads of paper still pervades our notion of academic research. Those of us at universities know that this stereotype could not be further from the truth and that strong collaboration and effective communication are fundamental to the success of the modern research scientist. What is true, however, is that the obligations of both professors and graduate students in the present day are certainly demanding: grant writing, teaching, research, and administrative duties can easily fill the better part of the week. Wandering away from ones focused research program is not trivial and often not condoned within the community.

The research, writing, and consulting that culminated in this text certainly proved to be an exercise in wandering. We carry scientific expertise in nanochemistry and materials science. Our research involves studying the catalytic processes that might enable carbon dioxide (CO2) to react chemically and form other compounds. However, like everyone else, we are living in the time of the existential threat of climate change. Halting the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere has become imperative if we are to cap global temperature rise to maintain a livable environment on Earth. Naturally, we became curious as to how our research on carbon dioxide fit into the big picture of a global climate-change-mitigation strategy. As it turns out, although our lab benches are a far cry from the scale of industrial chemical plants, fundamental research in nanochemistry and materials science is an essential part of improving on current carbon-related technologies and industrial processes.

Since the release in the 1960s of the first cautionary reports predicting global warming, climate change has slowly disseminated its way to the public consciousness and become what is arguably the biggest issue of our time. While opinions will always vary, many people, irrespective of political leaning or economic conviction, recognize that climate change is associated with anthropogenic carbon emissions and that there is the need for definitive action. At the time of writing this study, in September 2019, no less than seven million people took part in a global climate strike. With an ever-growing youth-led movement and an increasing number of countries and municipalities declaring a state of climate emergency, the urgency of the matter could not have been more evident. The Green New Deal, conceived in the spirit of Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal in response to the Great Depression, to enable a just and equitable transition toward an emissions-free economy is now a proposed legislation in the United States, and other countries are quickly following suit in developing their own version. At present, the social and political forces surrounding climate change are shifting daily, and we recognize that, by the time of reading, some of our content will already be outdated.