A team from the University of Cambridge has innovated a carbon capture method using activated charcoal charged like a battery, enabling efficient and energy-effective CO2 absorption from the air. This new approach, requiring lower regeneration temperatures, promises to make carbon capture more sustainable and cost-effective. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
“The first and most urgent thing we’ve got to do is reduce carbon emissions worldwide, but greenhouse gas removal is also thought to be necessary to achieve net zero emissions and limit the worst effects of climate change. Realistically, we’ve got to do everything we can.” —The researchers discovered that by charging the charcoal ‘sponge’ with ions that form reversible bonds with CO2, the charged material could successfully capture CO2 directly from the air.
When charging a battery, charged ions are inserted into one of the battery’s electrodes. The researchers hypothesised that charging activated charcoal with chemical compounds called hydroxides would make it suitable for carbon capture, since hydroxides form reversible bonds with CO2. The materials do, however, have limitations that the researchers are now working on. “We are working now to increase the quantity of carbon dioxide that can be captured, and in particular under humid conditions where our performance decreases,” said Forse.The researchers say their approach could be useful in fields beyond carbon capture, since the pores in the charcoal and the ions inserted into them can be fine-tuned to capture a range of molecules.
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