ENERGY SAVER: Brown University chemistry professor Shouheng Sun is part of the team that demonstrated that a unique core-shell nanoparticle is a cheaper, more active and longer-lasting fuel-cell catalyst than commercially available platinum products. / COURTESY BROWN UNIVERSITY/MIKE COHEA
A group of Brown University scientists hopes it has uncovered a climate-change-fighting breakthrough hiding in gold dust. Or gold nanoparticles, more precisely, the subject of one series of experiments within a joint Brown-Yale University research partnership investigating ways to sequester and convert earth-warming carbon dioxide into valuable industrial chemicals. “These chemicals are made on a…