This unlikely chemical can be a strong weapon against climate change

Year after year, humans pump More carbon dioxide (CO2) can remove more in the air than nature, providing global warming. Since the need to reduce climate change becomes increasingly urgent, scientists develop ways to remove carbon dioxide actively from the air in addition to cutting emissions.

One of the biggest obstacles to expanding the scope of current carbon capture techniques is the huge amount of energy it consumes, but what if there is an alternative to use an abundant and cheap energy source? A team of researchers at Harvard University recently took a big step towards this goal. Their style, shown in a Nature’s chemistry The study was published on August 13, and the sun’s rays are harnessed efficiently.

They do not talk about slapping solar panels on direct air capture systems that work on heat and electricity. This approach depends on specially designed molecules that use light to change their chemical condition and CO2 trap in reverse.

Harmony of light chemistry

The methodology developed by the researchers is a great departure from driving direct air capture techniques. These systems tend to rely on chemical solvents or wipe materials that easily connect with carbon dioxide, which removes them from the air. But the ability to reuse these materials – and carbon harness for practical use – overlooks huge inputs of energy (usually heat) to release trapped carbon into a container.

“If you want a practical way to withdraw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and then free it in a tank you can use, then you need a solution-or whatever the way you will use-to be able to capture all of his arrest. This is the key.”

“Our innovation here is that we started thinking about whether you can use light directly to do so,” he said.

To this end, the Liu team has synthesized the organic molecules called “Photobases Fluoreny” that exactly that. When exposed to sunlight, it quickly releases hydroxide ions that pick up carbon dioxide from the surrounding air by chemical association with it. In the absence of light, the reaction is reflected, the besieged carbon dioxide is launched and Photopas returns to its original state.

Limited a new solution

Through a series of experiments, the researchers decided that the most effective Fotopas Fotopas was to capture carbon dioxide was PBMEOH. This molecule did not appear any carbon dioxide in the dark, but the highest rate of capture when exposed to light. What’s more, the test showed that the carbon -based carbon capture system is stable and can complete many courses with the lowest efficiency loss.

“It only fades about 1 % per cycle, so you can only imagine renewing every 100 rounds,” explained Liu.

This work shows a systematic carbon capture system that depends only on sunlight as direct energy inputs, highlighting photographs as a promising alternative to traditional wipe materials.

The results are encouraging, but Leo and his colleagues will need to scan several obstacles before they can convert their framework into techniques in the real world. They are already working to face many challenges, such as the engineering aspects of how the system exposes these compounds to light and dark.

Liu said that while the “best” approach is still unknown, optical chemical systems offer some of the main advantages of current technologies. Explore new ways to remove carbon dioxide from air is more urgent than ever. “Since we cannot get rid of every source in the short term, capturing carbon from the atmosphere – and from the sources of points, especially – will be an important part of the solution.