Environmental resources in West Virginia are important sources of economic revenue for the state. Some of these natural resources including the land, air, and water, however are at risk for potential man-caused contamination. Land, air and water pollution, climate change, and human activities threaten the balance and sustainability of our natural environment. Mother Nature (crippled by Rain Forest devastation and other land-clearing practices world-wide) is not equipped to choreograph the cycling of copious amounts of fossil fuel CO2 emissions, agricultural and other human made waste by-products, and emissions from industrial processes. This unnatural alteration of the earth’s atmospheric chemical composition has recently come into a renewed focus.
Scientists have recently stepped up and acknowledged the urgency of global climate change. Current research at WV State University is focused on utilizing a heterogeneous photocatalyst to recycle carbon dioxide (via electron transfer) into a useful fuel or chemical feedstock. The concept behind this research is to create energy from the mitigation of a greenhouse gas via a solar energy conversion scheme encompassed within a molecular device.
Research Scientist:
Dr. Sharon Molnar
766-3042
