The GAO Materials Chemistry Research Group

It is with great delight to announce that the book, The Story of CO2: Big Ideas for a Small Molecule, by Dr. Mireille Ghoussoub and Professor Geoffrey Ozin has been named in The Hill Times’ List of 100 Best Books in 2020! Available for order here.

About the book: The climate crisis requires that we drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions across all sectors of society. The Story of CO2 contributes to this vital conversation by highlighting the cutting-edge science and emerging technologies – a number of which are already commercially available – that can transform carbon dioxide into a myriad of products such as feedstock chemicals, polymers, pharmaceuticals, and fuels. This approach allows us to reconsider CO2 as a resource, and to add “carbon capture and use” to our other tools in the fight against catastrophic climate change. See also an introduction and story by the Faculty of Science and Art, UofT, the Story of CO2 describes a groundbreaking solution to the climate crisis.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has changed the traditional forms of education, and both students and teachers are forced to adapt to a new normal of online teaching and learning. Multiple surveys indicate that students feel more stress in front of a camera than sitting in a classroom. The remote teaching also poses challenges to teachers who need to make a qucik transformation to explore and experiment with unconventional ways of knowledge transfer. In this article, Professor Geoffrey Ozin shares his thinkings, experiences and suggestions relating to the new paradigm of teaching and learning based on his long and colorful career in materials science. “The global COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way in which we teach, but it doesn’t have to be all bad” he said, with highlights on his new stress-easing evaluation method of being oral rather than written by the help of 3-5 power-point slide presentations in 3-5 minutes with 5 minutes of questions and answers. He also encourages more online interactions to compensate the lost positivity of the socio-educational student-teacher experience. See full story at Advanced Science News.

In their work, Yan et al. reported an atomically-precise single-atom Bi doping method to modify the photochemistry of surface frustrated Lewis pairs (SFLP), where the isomorphic replacement of the Lewis acidic site In3+ ions in In2O3 by single-site Bi3+ ions greatly increased the efficiencies for solar absorption and charge-separation. This subtle materials chemical engineering strategy remarkably increases the photothermal CO2RR activity by three orders of magnitude. See full story at Nature Communication.

It is with great excitement and delight that we wish to announce the The Story of CO2: Big Ideas for a Small Molecule published by University of Toronto Press in Nov., 2020 is now available for order!

About the book: The climate crisis requires that we drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions across all sectors of society. The Story of CO2 contributes to this vital conversation by highlighting the cutting-edge science and emerging technologies – a number of which are already commercially available – that can transform carbon dioxide into a myriad of products such as feedstock chemicals, polymers, pharmaceuticals, and fuels. This approach allows us to reconsider CO2 as a resource, and to add “carbon capture and use” to our other tools in the fight against catastrophic climate change. See also an introduction and story by the Faculty of Science and Art, UofT, the Story of CO2 describes a groundbreaking solution to the climate crisis.

The foreword:

“This book could mark a turning point – the beginning of a paradigm shift.”
John Polanyi, University of Toronto, Winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

“Sunlight and water have converted carbon dioxide to energy-rich molecules for billions of years. The oil, gas, and coal we have been using for transportation and materials have come from this chemistry. The bad news is that combustion of these fossil fuels continues to harm life on our planet. What to do? The Story of CO2, beautifully crafted by Geoffrey A. Ozin and Mireille F. Ghoussoub, has instructions for us. It is a great read, chock-full of history, facts, and most importantly, ideas about what we should be doing. Highly recommended!”
Harry B. Gray, Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry, and Founding Director, Beckman Institute, California Institute of Technology

“This book takes the reader on a fascinating journey of a simple and yet crucial molecule that is essential for life on Earth and our future.”
Erwin Reisner, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge

“The Story of CO2 provides a fascinating take on a molecule that’s right under our noses. Ozin and Ghoussoub delve into this simple but powerful gas, which is changing our climate and acidifying our oceans. It’s a thoroughly researched history of this essential gas that will leave the reader feeling more hopeful about solutions to our climate crisis and the future of our planet.”
Leah C. Stokes, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara.