{"id":110112,"date":"2022-06-02T07:29:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-02T05:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=110112"},"modified":"2022-05-25T14:17:47","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T12:17:47","slug":"low-cost-battery-like-device-absorbs-co2-emissions-while-it-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/low-cost-battery-like-device-absorbs-co2-emissions-while-it-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Low-cost battery-like device absorbs CO2 emissions while it charges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\"Co-authors
Co-authors Israel Temprano and Grace Mapstone Credit: Gabriella Bocchetti<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Researchers have developed a low-cost device that can selectively capture carbon dioxide gas while it charges. Then, when it discharges, the CO2<\/sub> can be released in a controlled way and collected to be reused or disposed of responsibly.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The supercapacitor device, which is similar to a rechargeable battery, is the size of a two-pence coin, and is made in part from sustainable materials including coconut shells and seawater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designed by researchers from the University of Cambridge, the supercapacitor could help power carbon capture and storage technologies at much lower cost. Around 35 billion tonnes of CO2<\/sub> are released into the atmosphere per year and solutions are urgently needed to eliminate these emissions and address the climate crisis. The most advanced carbon capture technologies currently require large amounts of energy and are expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The supercapacitor consists of two electrodes of positive and negative charge. In work led by Trevor Binford while completing his Master\u2019s degree at Cambridge, the team tried alternating from a negative to a positive voltage to extend the charging time from previous experiments. This improved the supercapacitor\u2019s ability to capture carbon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe found that that by slowly alternating the current between the plates we can capture double the amount of CO2<\/sub> than before,\u201d said Dr Alexander Forse<\/strong> from Cambridge\u2019s Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, who led the research.<\/p>

\u201cThe charging-discharging process of our supercapacitor potentially uses less energy than the amine heating process used in industry now,\u201d said Forse. \u201cOur next questions will involve investigating the precise mechanisms of CO2<\/sub> capture and improving them. Then it will be a question of scaling up.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The results are reported in the journal Nanoscale<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A supercapacitor is similar to a rechargeable battery but the main difference is in how the two devices store charge. A battery uses chemical reactions to store and release charge, whereas a supercapacitor does not rely on chemical reactions. Instead, it relies on the movement of electrons between electrodes, so it takes longer to degrade and has a longer lifespan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe trade-off is that supercapacitors can\u2019t store as much charge as batteries, but for something like carbon capture we would prioritise durability,\u201d said co-author Grace Mapstone<\/strong>. \u201cThe best part is that the materials used to make supercapacitors are cheap and abundant. The electrodes are made of carbon, which comes from waste coconut shells.<\/p>

\u201cWe want to use materials that are inert, that don\u2019t harm environments, and that we need to dispose of less frequently. For example, the CO2<\/sub> dissolves into a water-based electrolyte which is basically seawater.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

However, this supercapacitor does not absorb CO2<\/sub> spontaneously: it must be charging to draw in CO2<\/sub>. When the electrodes become charged, the negative plate draws in the CO2<\/sub> gas, while ignoring other emissions, such as oxygen, nitrogen and water, which don\u2019t contribute to climate change. Using this method, the supercapacitor both captures carbon and stores energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-author Dr Israel Temprano contributed to the project by developing a gas analysis technique for the device. The technique uses a pressure sensor that responds to changes in gas adsorption in the electrochemical device. The results from Temprano\u2019s contribution help narrow down the precise mechanism at play inside the supercapacitor when CO2<\/sub> is absorbed and released. Understanding these mechanisms, the possible losses, and the routes of degradation are all essential before the supercapacitor can be scaled up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis field of research is very new so the precise mechanism working inside the supercapacitor still isn\u2019t known,\u201d said Temprano<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The research was funded by a Future Leaders Fellowship to Dr Forse, a UK Research and Innovation scheme developing the next wave of world-class research and innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Trevor B. Binford, Grace Mapstone, Israel Temprano, and Alexander C. Forse. ‘Enhancing the capacity of supercapacitive swing adsorption CO2 capture by tuning charging protocols.<\/a>‘ Nanoscale (2022)<\/em>. DOI: 10.1039\/D2NR00748G<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers have developed a low-cost device that can selectively capture carbon dioxide gas while it charges. Then, when it discharges, the CO2 can be released in a controlled way and collected to be reused or disposed of responsibly. The supercapacitor device, which is similar to a rechargeable battery, is the size of a two-pence coin, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"The CO2 can be released in a controlled way and collected to be reused or disposed of responsibly","footnotes":""},"categories":[5571],"tags":[10744,10743],"supplier":[1311],"class_list":["post-110112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-co2-based","tag-carboncapture","tag-useco2","supplier-university-of-cambridge-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110112"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=110112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}