Liquid‐Metal‐Enabled Mechanical‐Energy‐Induced CO<sub>2</sub> Conversion
Junma Tang, Jianbo Tang, Mohannad Mayyas, Mohammad B. Ghasemian, Jing Sun, Md. Arifur Rahim, Jiong Yang, Jialuo Han, Douglas J. Lawes, Rouhollah Jalili, Torben Daeneke, Maricruz G. Saborío, Zhenbang Cao, Claudia A. Echeverria, Francois‐Marie Allioux, Ali Zavabeti, Jessica Hamilton, Valerie D. Mitchell, Anthony P. O’Mullane, Richard B. Kaner, Dorna Esrafilzadeh, Michael D. Dickey, Kourosh Kalantar‐Zadeh
Abstract
Abstract A green carbon capture and conversion technology offering scalability and economic viability for mitigating CO 2 emissions is reported. The technology uses suspensions of gallium liquid metal to reduce CO 2 into carbonaceous solid products and O 2 at near room temperature. The nonpolar nature of the liquid gallium interface allows the solid products to instantaneously exfoliate, hence keeping active sites accessible. The solid co‐contributor of silver–gallium rods ensures a cyclic sustainable process. The overall process relies on mechanical energy as the input, which drives nano‐dimensional triboelectrochemical reactions. When a gallium/silver fluoride mix at 7:1 mass ratio is employed to create the reaction material, 92% efficiency is obtained at a remarkably low input energy of 230 kWh (excluding the energy used for dissolving CO 2 ) for the capture and conversion of a tonne of CO 2 . This green technology presents an economical solution for CO 2 emissions.