One way to mitigate climate change would be to capture carbon dioxide from the air, thereby directly reducing the greenhouse effect.

It has been tried but proven difficult to accomplish. One major obstacle is that capturing carbon dioxide is prevented by the presence of water vapor. And you first need to make the air completely dry, which is very expensive.

Now, a team of Swedish and Korean scientists has created a stable and recyclable material that can sort our water from the air. It is covered with micropores that have different points of attachment for carbon dioxide and water.

It is able to absorb carbon dioxide efficiently from humid air according to the researchers. This material captures both water and carbon dioxide, but the binding of carbon dioxide is significant.

The fact that the filter also captures water could be an advantage. In areas where fresh water is sparse, being able to collect water from the air would prove very attractive.

The material has been named SGU-29 (abbreviation of Sogang University) and consists of crystals of copper silicate.

The study has been published in Science.

______________
CO2 capture from humid flue gases and humid atmosphere using a microporous coppersilicate
____________________________