An international team of researchers has produced a novel microporous crystal capable of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) with much greater efficiency than any other material.
Osamu Terasaki and Peter Oleynikov
Capturing CO2 from the air is one way to minimize climate change. Until this research, CO2 capture has been difficult to achieve as it cannot be absorbed properly when water is present, but complete dehydration is not an economical process.
The newly developed microporous crystal material is not only stable but also recyclable. Various adsorption sites are present in the micropores of the crystal, with separate sites adsorbing CO2 and water.
“As far as I know this is the first material that captures CO2 in an efficient way in the presence of humidity. In other cases there is competition between water and carbon dioxide and water usually wins. This material adsorbs both, but the CO2 uptake is enormous” says Osamu Terasaki, Professor at the Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry at Stockholm University.
The innovative material is a copper silicate crystal, and has been named “SGU-29”, after Sogang University in Korea. The material came to fruition due to the efforts of the international cooperation. The material has the ability to capture CO2 from the air, and is particularly useful for cleaning emissions.
“CO2 is always produced with moisture, and now we can capture CO2 from humid gases. Combined with other systems that are being developed, the waste carbon can be used for new valuable compounds. People are working very hard and I think we will be able to do this within five years. The most difficult part is to capture carbon dioxide, and we have a solution for that now” says Osamu Terasaki.
The findings of this research have been reported in the scientific journal, Science.