Scientists have hailed the “exciting” discovery of a type of porous material capable of storing carbon dioxide.
The material is made of hollow, cage-shaped molecules that have large capacities for storing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and sulfur hexafluoride, a more potent gas that can persist for thousands of years in the atmosphere.
Dr Mark Little, who jointly led the research at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, said the discovery could “help solve society’s biggest challenges”.
“Directly capturing carbon dioxide from the air is increasingly important because even when we stop emitting carbon dioxide, there will still be a huge need to capture previous emissions that are already in the environment.
“Planting trees is a very effective way to absorb carbon, but it is very slow. So we need human intervention – like human-made molecules – to capture the gases more efficiently and quickly. greenhouse effect of the environment.”
Greenhouse gases are one of the main factors responsible for global warming and climate change.
They function like the walls of a greenhouse, trapping heat in Earth’s atmosphere. While carbon dioxide is released naturally, sulfur hexafluoride is an artificial gas that retains heat very effectively.
In 2019, the UK became the first major economy to enact into law a commitment to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
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Help from artificial intelligence
The researchers used computer simulations to accurately predict how molecules would assemble in the new material, which Dr Little said could be further improved in the future through the use of artificial intelligence (AI). .
He added that with the help of AI, an “unprecedented supply of new materials” that could help solve the most pressing challenges could be created, without the need to manufacture them in a laboratory.
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Dr Little said the study was an “important step” in the development of other materials and added that molecules with complex structures could also be used to remove toxic compounds – called volatile organic compounds – from the air and could play an important role in medical science.
In addition to Heriot-Watt scientists, researchers from the University of Liverpool, Imperial College London, the University of Southampton and the East China University of Science and Technology were involved.
The project was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Leverhulme Trust. It was published in the journal Nature Synthesis.
