Chemists from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles recently introduced a new material that has a chance to help humanity with one of its most significant problems. And it even kills 2 birds with one stone. The substance can be used to improve filtering or even capture carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. This can then theoretically be reused to produce fuel.
Whatever you think about the influence of CO2 on atmospheric warming, one thing is certain: its excess in the atmosphere is certainly not entirely favorable in the long term. Besides its influence on warming, it also contributes to ocean acidification, which can have immeasurable consequences for the entire planet. Scientists from various fields are therefore setting out to fight it.
Scientists led by Alain Goeppert focused mainly on making the new material easy and cheap to produce. The base is therefore made of common polymer polyethyleneimine (PEI), which is coated with a "foam" of silicon dioxide, known as "fumed silica". The resulting material adsorbs (not absorbs) CO2 - its molecules only attach to the surface of the material through surface attractive forces, without penetrating into its interior.
When the "saturated" material is heated above 100°C, it can release the CO2 molecules again. This on one hand allows for its reuse, and on the other hand, convenient concentration of CO2 in one place. The captured gas can then be used for further fuel production. According to another co-author of the study, Prof. G.K. Surya Prakash, this may be the beginning of the age of CO2 recycling.
Source: http://21stoleti.cz