Innovative, simple, and inexpensive materials for carbon capture

A new family of solid-state materials, melamine nanoporous networks, makes carbon emissions capture from smokestacks or tailpipes much cheaper and easier to perform compared to metal-organic frameworks currently available on the market. With fossil fuels being responsible for around 75 percent of US carbon dioxide emissions, new, innovative technologies are essential to speed up the efforts toward the zero-emissions goals set for 2050.

Metallic-organic frameworks (MOF) have been developed since 2015. Due to their very complex structures, they are capable of offering very large surface areas that trap CO2 molecules, allowing the rest of the particles to pass through. However, due to cost and production requirements, this technology poses significant difficulties in the scale-up process. The melamine-based solution developed by the researchers at UC Berkeley allows for wider deployment and significantly lower production costs.

Discussing the applications of the melamine nanoporous networks, Haiyan Mao, a UCB Postdoctoral fellow and lead author of the study, said: “This work creates a general industrialization method towards sustainable CO2 capture using porous networks. We hope we can design a future attachment for capturing car exhaust gas, or maybe an attachment to a building or even a coating on the surface of furniture."

Even though the production of melamine is in itself a CO2-producing activity, the research team believes that the large area of applications and the expected benefits can offset some of the production downsides.

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AUTHOR

Catalina Sparleanu, Supertrends