Hunt for Improved Carbon Capture Picks Up Speed
A high-throughput metal-organic framework synthesis instrument in action. Berkeley
Lab chemist Jeffrey Long's lab will soon host a round-the-clock, robotically
choreographed hunt for carbon-hungry materials. The Berkeley Lab chemist leads
a diverse team of scientists whose goal is to quickly discover materials that
can efficiently strip carbon dioxide from a power plant's exhaust, before it
leaves the smokestack and contributes to climate change. They're betting on
a recently discovered class of materials called metal-organic frameworks, which
boast a record-shattering internal surface area. A sugar cube-sized piece, if
unfolded and flattened, would more than blanket a football field. The crystalline
material can also be tweaked to absorb specific molecules.
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