About Us

CERT is a multidisciplinary team of over 10 researchers from chemistry, materials science and engineering based at the University of Toronto. Led by Prof. Ted Sargent and Prof. David Sinton, we have invented a technology that efficiently converts CO2 emissions into fuels and chemical feedstocks. When powered by renewable energy sources, our process provides net-neutral production of precursors for fuels and consumer plastic. At the heart of our technology is a record-breaking electrocatalyst that combines CO2, protons from water, and electrons, to make valuable chemicals such as ethylene.

The team has received support from a number of industrial and governmental partners, including the Ontario Centres of Excellence, the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and Natural Resources Canada.

TECH INFORMATION

Our technology turns waste CO₂ emissions into valuable chemicals and additional revenue stream. Similar to how photosynthesis takes in sunlight, water, and CO₂ to produce sugar, our electrolyzer uses electricity, water, and CO₂ to generate chemical products such as ethylene. CERT has developed novel catalysts and electrode designs for high selectivity and energy efficiency. We can tune the product distribution and purity based on catalyst and operating conditions of the cell.  The device produces no chemical waste, operates at room-temperature and ambient pressure, does not require the use of harsh chemicals, and is emissions free.  We bring this together in a compact and scalable electrochemical system analogous to modern fuel cells.

ABOUT TEAM LEADER

Ted holds the rank of University Professor in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Nanotechnology and also serves as Vice President - International for the University of Toronto. His book The Dance of Molecules: How Nanotechnology is Changing Our Lives (Penguin) was published in Canada and the United States in 2005 and has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, and Arabic. He is founder and CTO of InVisage Technologies and a co-founder of Xagenic. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada; a Fellow of the AAAS “...for distinguished contributions to the development of solar cells and light sensors based on solution-processed semiconductors;” and a Fellow of the IEEE “... for contributions to colloidal quantum dot optoelectronic devices.” He is Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering for “…ground-breaking research in nanotechnology, applying novel quantum-tuned materials to the realization of full-spectrum solar cells and ultra-sensitive light detectors. The impact of his work has been felt in industry through his formation of two start-up companies." His publications have been cited over 16,000 times.

TEAM MEMBERS

Supervisors
Prof. Ted Sargent | Advisor, University Professor, VP International
Prof. David Sinton | Advisor, Professor, Canada Research Chair

Team Leads
Christine Gabardo
Alex Ip
Jonathan Edwards
Colin O’Brien

Members
Christopher McCallum
Joshua Wicks
Armin Sedighian Rasouli
Jehad Abed
Jarvis Liu
Jimmy Lam
Luke Kershaw

Alumni
Phil De Luna
Thomas Burdyny
Pelayo Garcia de Arquer
Oleksandr Bushuyev
Md Golam Kibria
Cao-Thang Dinh
Yen Hoang
Jared Sisler