Although progress has been made in limiting carbon emissions in some countries, particularly in Europe and North America, it’s clear that finding ways to capture carbon dioxide from smokestacks—or from the atmosphere—is becoming increasingly imperative. Available systems dramatically increase the cost of electricity from plants equipped with the technology. And what to do with all that carbon dioxide after it’s separated remains problematic.
Now a team of scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley, have devised a method that uses super-porous molecular structures known as covalent organic frameworks, with catalysts to convert the carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, which can be used in making a range of materials including fuels, plastics, and even pharmaceuticals.
The new materials, says Chris Chang, a chemist with Berkeley Lab’s Chemical Sciences Division and one of the co-leaders of the research team, are based on “a highly stable, porous structure that’s decorated with all of these catalysts.” Though it’s early stage research and nowhere near ready to scale up to power plant levels, it’s an important step toward finding practical ways to absorb and use carbon dioxide in both waste streams and the air.
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