Carbon Capture Crystals
Carbon Capture DNA/Crystal Structure
UCLA chemists have created crystals that can capture carbon dioxide. The crystals have a synthetic DNA like ability to encode information which is believed to be the key for carbon capture. This discovery could result in a new way to capture greenhouse gas emissions and could lead to cleaner energy and a host of new products – for example the structure could be used to create materials that convert carbon dioxide into new fuel!
From Green Design and Manufacturing:
“We created three-dimensional, synthetic DNA-like crystals,” said UCLA chemistry and biochemistry professor Omar M. Yaghi. “We have taken organic and inorganic units and combined them into a synthetic crystal which codes information in a DNA-like manner. It is by no means as sophisticated as DNA, but it is certainly new in chemistry and materials science.”
“What we think this will be important for is potentially getting to a viable carbon dioxide-capture material with ultra-high selectivity,” said Yaghi. “Potentially, we could create a material that can convert carbon dioxide into a fuel, or a material that can separate carbon dioxide with greater efficiency.”
Yaghi worked with Hexiang “DJ” Deng, a UCLA graduate student of chemistry and biochemistry.
“DNA is a beautiful molecule that has a way to code for information,” Yaghi said. “How do you code information in a crystal in the same way that DNA does? DJ and I figured out a way to do this. The sequence of organic functionalities that decorates the pores of the crystals is most certainly a unique code. DJ has illustrated that one member of a series of materials he has made has 400 percent better performance in carbon dioxide capture than one that does not have the same code.”
More at: Green Design and Manufacturing
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Photo: carbon-capture-crystals-cnsi.ucla
Tags: BioFuels, carbon capture, green technology
March 4th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
It’s telling that more result-oriented thought is put into fixing climate problems than into implementing technology that avoids creating them in the first place. Not to minimize those who are working on mainstreaming solar, wind, etc., but it’s strange that scientists in a lab are as likely to solve an existing problem as those who are debating and weighing the pros and cons and profit incentives of not creating a problem to begin with.