This New Device Turns Carbon Emissions Into a Valuable Chemical

This new technology turns everyday carbon emissions into a useful chemical right at the source, even from thin air.

Exhaust gases released from home furnaces, fireplaces, and industrial facilities send carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, adding to climate pollution. Scientists reporting today (January 21) in ACS Energy Letters have developed a new type of electrode that can capture CO2 from the air and immediately transform it into a useful chemical called formic acid. In laboratory tests, the system outperformed existing electrode designs when exposed to simulated flue gas and even when CO2 levels matched those found in normal outdoor air.

“This work shows that carbon capture and conversion do not need to be treated as separate steps. By integrating both functions into a single electrode, we demonstrate a simpler pathway for CO2 utilization under realistic gas conditions,” explains Wonyong Choi, a corresponding author on the study.

Why Converting CO2 Is So Challenging

Removing carbon dioxide from the air may sound straightforward after all, plants do it every day. The real challenge comes afterward. Turning captured CO2 into something useful is difficult, yet essential if carbon capture technologies are to be widely adopted. In real-world industrial exhaust, CO2 is mixed with large amounts of other gases, including nitrogen and oxygen. Most existing conversion systems only work efficiently when CO2 has already been purified and concentrated, which adds cost and complexity.

To overcome this limitation, Donglai Pan, Myoung Hwan Oh, Wonyong Choi, and their colleagues set out to create a system that could both capture and convert CO2 under realistic conditions. Their goal was to make a device that functions directly with flue gas and remains effective even when carbon dioxide is present in small amounts.

A Three-Layer Electrode Design

The researchers designed an electrode that allows gas to flow through it, trap CO2, and convert it at the same time. The device is built from three distinct layers: a material that selectively captures carbon dioxide, a sheet of gas-permeable carbon paper, and a catalytic layer made of tin(IV) oxide. Together, these components enable the direct conversion of CO2 gas into formic acid.

Formic acid is a valuable chemical used in several applications, including fuel cells and other industrial processes. Producing it directly from exhaust gases could make carbon recycling far more practical.

Strong Performance Under Realistic Conditions

When tested with pure CO2, the new electrode showed about 40% higher efficiency than existing carbon conversion electrodes under similar laboratory conditions. The difference became even more striking when the researchers switched to a simulated flue gas made up of 15% CO2, 8% oxygen gas, and 77% nitrogen gas. Under those conditions, the new system continued producing significant amounts of formic acid, while other approaches produced almost none.

The electrode also worked at CO2 concentrations similar to those found in the atmosphere, showing that it can operate in ambient air. According to the researchers, this approach could make carbon capture more practical for industrial use. They also suggest that similar designs might one day be adapted to capture and convert other greenhouse gases, such as methane.

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