Carbon Decarbonase—Plasma-Electrified Nanocarbon Processes for Zero-Carbon World

This presentation focuses on the applications of plasma nanoscienice and nanotechnology to produce functional solid nanocarbon materials, liquid fuels and chemicals, and value-added gaseous products through the plasma-enabled conversion of carbon-rich precursors. These plasma-enabled processes are pursued for the development of clean energy and sustainable green chemistry solutions to achieve zero-carbon-emissions industrial processes and help decarbonize the way we live more broadly. Uisng the analogy with natural enzymes where naming conventions include their function, and also the "-ase“ ending, here we introduce a concept of "carbon decarbonase“. This concept implies the production of value-added carbon products typically from carbon-rich waste (in solid, liquid of gaseous forms). These waste-derived carbon products in turn present interesting advanced functional properties which help achieve the global goals of decarbonozing the world, set by the recent UN sustainability programs and climate-change meetings. These carbon-based functional "decarbonases“ include water desalination and purification membranes, advanced structures for energy conversion in its various forms, electrocatalytic and photocatalytic processes for energy and environmental applications, electrode materials for next-generation energy storage materials and several others. These applications are ultimately aimed for decarbonising the main greenhouse gas emissions generating industries. Radically new approaches are needed to achieve these challenging goals, and one of the viable solutions is beased on electrification of the production of materials, chemicals, and fuels. Selected case studies will discuss the utilization of the <i>re-carbon – de-carbon – up-carbon</i> sustainable cycle in the production of advanced carbon nanomaterials which can perform as "decarbonases“. To this end, we apply the innovative P2X (Power-to-X) approach, where X denotes the many products that can be fabricated using clean and renewable power P, including plasma-electrified power. We discuss several possibilities to utilize the plasma-power (plasma-P in P2X equation), paying particular attention to highly-efficient processes and technologies based on low-temperature plasmas, including low-pressure and atmospheric-pressure plasma discharges. Applications of plasmas to produce selected health, biomedical, and hygiene products using the highlighted approaches are discussed as well. Support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation through the Humboldt Award Program, the Australian Research Council, Centre for Materials Science, Centre for Clean Energy Technologies and Practices, and Centre for Waste-free-World is kindly appreciated.