With this procedure, in the future, the energy needed for carbon capture will come from the sun.Light-controlled acid switchLed by Maria Lukatskaya, Professor of Electrochemical Energy Systems, the scientists are making use of the reality that in acidic aqueous liquids, CO2 is present as CO2, however in alkaline liquid liquids, it reacts to form salts of carbonic acid, known as carbonates. A liquids acidity identifies whether it includes CO2 or a carbonate.To influence the acidity of their liquid, the researchers added molecules, called photoacids, to it that react to light. In the dark, they return to the initial state that makes the liquid more alkaline.This is how the ETH scientists approach works in detail: The researchers different CO2 from the air by passing the air through a liquid consisting of photoacids in the dark. As soon as the salts in the liquid have built up to a significant degree, the researchers irradiate the liquid with light. When there is hardly any CO2 left in the liquid, the scientists change off the cycle and the light begins all over again, with the liquid ready to capture CO2.It all depends on the mixtureIn practice, nevertheless, there was an issue: the photoacids utilized are unsteady in water.
With this procedure, in the future, the energy needed for carbon capture will come from the sun.Light-controlled acid switchLed by Maria Lukatskaya, Professor of Electrochemical Energy Systems, the researchers are exploiting the truth that in acidic liquid liquids, CO2 is present as CO2, however in alkaline aqueous liquids, it responds to form salts of carbonic acid, understood as carbonates. In the dark, they return to the initial state that makes the liquid more alkaline.This is how the ETH researchers method works in detail: The scientists different CO2 from the air by passing the air through a liquid including photoacids in the dark. When there is hardly any CO2 left in the liquid, the researchers switch off the cycle and the light starts all over once again, with the liquid prepared to catch CO2.It all depends on the mixtureIn practice, however, there was a problem: the photoacids used are unstable in water.
