Electrifying amine carbon capture with robust redox-tunable acids
Abstract Electrochemically mediated carbon capture presents an energy-efficient and cost-effective strategy to combat climate change due to its ability to utilize renewable energy and operate at ambient conditions. However, many current approaches suffer from operational instability and limited scal...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59732-z |
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| author | Xing Li Charles B. Musgrave Andong Liu Junyang Meng Jihan Zhang William A. Goddard Yayuan Liu |
| author_facet | Xing Li Charles B. Musgrave Andong Liu Junyang Meng Jihan Zhang William A. Goddard Yayuan Liu |
| author_sort | Xing Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Electrochemically mediated carbon capture presents an energy-efficient and cost-effective strategy to combat climate change due to its ability to utilize renewable energy and operate at ambient conditions. However, many current approaches suffer from operational instability and limited scalability potential due to a lack of reliable, low-cost redox-active absorbent materials. Here, we introduce a class of chemically robust and economical redox-tunable Brønsted acids to electrify amine carbon capture. The redox-tunable acids exhibit a reversible tunability in pK a spanning over 20 units in organic solvents in response to electrochemical potential, thereby enabling the regeneration of classic amines for CO2 separation via proton-coupled electron transfer. Remarkably, the RAs maintain their chemical integrity for over 400 h of operation in a symmetric carbon capture flow cell under 10% CO2 and 21% O2 at ambient temperature and pressure. By harnessing electrification, our approach can effectively mitigate shortcomings inherent to thermochemical carbon capture processes, facilitating a more sustainable drop-in replacement for incumbent amine scrubbing. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-82c3f08f5a674a4da70f3efd3a1a5782 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-82c3f08f5a674a4da70f3efd3a1a57822025-08-20T03:52:53ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-05-0116111410.1038/s41467-025-59732-zElectrifying amine carbon capture with robust redox-tunable acidsXing Li0Charles B. Musgrave1Andong Liu2Junyang Meng3Jihan Zhang4William A. Goddard5Yayuan Liu6Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins UniversityMaterials and Process Simulation Center, California Institute of TechnologyDepartment of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins UniversityDepartment of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins UniversityDepartment of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins UniversityMaterials and Process Simulation Center, California Institute of TechnologyDepartment of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins UniversityAbstract Electrochemically mediated carbon capture presents an energy-efficient and cost-effective strategy to combat climate change due to its ability to utilize renewable energy and operate at ambient conditions. However, many current approaches suffer from operational instability and limited scalability potential due to a lack of reliable, low-cost redox-active absorbent materials. Here, we introduce a class of chemically robust and economical redox-tunable Brønsted acids to electrify amine carbon capture. The redox-tunable acids exhibit a reversible tunability in pK a spanning over 20 units in organic solvents in response to electrochemical potential, thereby enabling the regeneration of classic amines for CO2 separation via proton-coupled electron transfer. Remarkably, the RAs maintain their chemical integrity for over 400 h of operation in a symmetric carbon capture flow cell under 10% CO2 and 21% O2 at ambient temperature and pressure. By harnessing electrification, our approach can effectively mitigate shortcomings inherent to thermochemical carbon capture processes, facilitating a more sustainable drop-in replacement for incumbent amine scrubbing.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59732-z |
| spellingShingle | Xing Li Charles B. Musgrave Andong Liu Junyang Meng Jihan Zhang William A. Goddard Yayuan Liu Electrifying amine carbon capture with robust redox-tunable acids Nature Communications |
| title | Electrifying amine carbon capture with robust redox-tunable acids |
| title_full | Electrifying amine carbon capture with robust redox-tunable acids |
| title_fullStr | Electrifying amine carbon capture with robust redox-tunable acids |
| title_full_unstemmed | Electrifying amine carbon capture with robust redox-tunable acids |
| title_short | Electrifying amine carbon capture with robust redox-tunable acids |
| title_sort | electrifying amine carbon capture with robust redox tunable acids |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59732-z |
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