VATIS UPDATE Article

Researchers at George Washington University (GWU), the United States, are working on a new method for taking carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the air and converting it to oxygen and nanoscale fibers made of carbon which could lead to an inexpensive way to make a valuable building material and may even serve as a weapon against climate change. Carbon fibers are increasingly being used as a structural material on the aerospace, automotive, and other industries, which value its strength and light weight. “The useful attributes of carbon fibers, which also include electrical conductivity, are enhanced at the nanoscale,” said Stuart Licht, at GWU.

The problem is that it’s very expensive to make carbon fibers, much less nanofibers. Licht said that his group’s newly demonstrated technology, which captures the CO2 from the air and employs an electrochemical process to convert it to carbon nanofibers and oxygen, is more efficient and a lot cheaper than existing methods. But it’s more than just a simpler, less expensive way of making a high-value product. It’s also a “means of storing and sequestering CO2 in a useful manner, a stable manner, and in a compact manner,” said Licht. The process requires molten lithium carbonate, with another compound, lithium oxide, dissolved in it.

The lithium oxide combines with CO2 in the air, forming more lithium carbonate. When voltage is applied across two electrodes immersed in the molten carbonate, the resulting reaction produces oxygen, carbon, and lithium oxide, which can be used to capture more CO2 and start the process again. The researchers demonstrated the ability to make a variety of different nanofiber shapes and diameters by adjusting specific growth conditions, such as the amount of current applied at specific points of time and the composition of the various ingredients used in the process.