Scientists from the Polytechnic University of Turin have made energy storage devices, namely, supercapacitors, even more efficient by teaching them to capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from exhaust gases. Since 2021, a team of researchers led by Professor Andrea Lamberti has been working on the CO2CAP project, which aims to develop solutions for carbon dioxide emissions reduction and energy conservation.
The project was essentially designed to upgrade modern supercapacitors, devices which are used to accumulate and quickly release energy, especially in combination with renewable energy sources. This has given supercapacitors a new functionality: they are now capable of capturing CO₂ from exhaust gases and converting the energy of this process into electricity at the same time. The collected CO₂ can be used to create new materials, such as chemical reagents or polymers. This has been made possible thanks to innovative materials inside the device, in particular a special ionic liquid that works without solvents and remains liquid at room temperature.
Supercapacitors will now be able to not only store energy, but also generate it while purifying the air and creating components for the chemical industry.
The new technology can be integrated into existing production processes without the need to create new production lines, which makes it especially attractive to battery and capacitor manufacturers.
The solution, which was presented in the journal Advanced Energy and Sustainability Research, has already drawn interest from the industry. It could become especially popular given the expected market growth: the European Union plans to create about 30 gigafactories for the production of batteries and supercapacitors by 2030. Although the technology is at the stage of technological readiness improvement, it could be implemented just in time for large-scale industrial deployment.
In addition, it will have a significant impact on carbon footprint reduction in energy-intensive industries producing cement, glass and other industrial materials, where CO₂ emissions are particularly high.
