Scientists have recently created crystals that are able to capture carbon dioxide far more efficiently than previously known materials, even in the presence of water, according to a new research study recently posted in the scientific journal Science.
Climate change is important to all of us because without water we as humans cannot survive; we need water for personal use to keep our bodies hydrated, for personal hygiene, for cooking, for agriculture, for power and for industry, amongst other uses.
The growing global warming and climate change is threatening our very lives, and we need to use any method possible to ensure that we fight it to ensure mankind’s existence.
One method of mitigating climate change could be capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air, but up till now this have proven to be rather difficult to do because the presence of water in the air prevents the adsorption of carbon dioxide.
Scientists have now created crystals, which are a stable, recyclable material, with micropores within that have different adsorption sites for carbon dioxide and water. This gives great hope that the effects of climate change ca be stopped, as the only other method is complete dehydration, which is a very costly process.
This new material is said to be the first material that has the ability to capture CO2 in the presence of humidity in an efficient way. Normally there is competition between the carbon dioxide and the water, with the water usually coming out on top. The new micropores in the crystals manage to capture and adsborb both the water and the carbon dioxide, with the carbon dioxide uptake being huge according to Osamu Terasaki, Professor at the Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry at Stockholm University.
The new material, named SGU-29 after Sogang University in Korea, is a copper silicate crystal that is the result of international cooperation and can be utilised to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as well as to clean emissions.
This discovery is huge for the future of climate change and for water on earth, and, together with other systems that are currently being developed, can also mean that waste carbon can be used for new valuable compounds in the future.
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