https://phys.org/news/2018-05-excess-carbon-dioxide-good.html

Rosenthal and his team in UD's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have discovered that bismuth has an unusual property that can be harnessed to help the environment—as a chemical "spark" or catalyst for converting carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas, into liquid fuels and industrial chemicals. The findings are reported in ACS Catalysis, a journal published by the American Chemical Society. Rosenthal's team also has filed a patent on the work.

Rosenthal refers to bismuth's specialized capability as "catalytic plasticity." When an electrical current is applied to a bismuth film in a bath of salty liquids containing imidazolium and amidinium ions, he and his team can "tune" the chemical reaction to convert carbon dioxide to either a liquid fuel such as gasoline, or to formic acid—a valuable chemical with many industrial uses—from preserving human food and livestock feed, to manufacturing rubber and leather, artificial flavorings and perfumes.