"The idea would be to set up stations that capture large amounts of CO2, like next to a power plant," said researcher Fernando Uribe-Romo.
Scientists have found a way to trigger artificial photosynthesis using a new synthetic material. The method could be used to simultaneously generate energy and convert greenhouse gases into clean air.
"This work is a breakthrough," Fernando Uribe-Romo, a research professor at the University of Central Florida, said in a news release. "Tailoring materials that will absorb a specific color of light is very difficult from the scientific point of view, but from the societal point of view we are contributing to the development of a technology that can help reduce greenhouse gases."
Uribe-Romo and his colleagues created a new type of MOF material. MOF is short for metal-organic frameworks. The materials host a chemical reaction that converts CO2 into a variety of simple and safe organic compounds.