"The energy-intensive nature of CO2 absorption-desorption processes has restricted deployment of #DAC operations. So, catalytic solvent regeneration is a valid solution to tackle this case by accelerating CO2 desorption at lower regeneration temperatures."
🧵 1/8
The new work reports "a one-step synthesis methodology to prepare monodispersed #carbon nanospheres (MCSs) using trisodium citrate as a structure-directing agent with acidic sites." #DirectAirCapture 2/8
"The assembly of citrate groups on the surface of MCSs enables consistent spherical growth morphology, reduces agglomeration & enhances H2O dispersibility. The functionalization-assisted synthesis produces uniform hydrophilic nanospheres of 100–600nm range." #DirectAirCapture 3/8
"This work also demonstrates that the prepared MCSs can be further functionalized with strong Brønsted acid sites, providing high proton donation ability." #DirectAirCapture 4/8
Furthermore, "the materials can be effectively used in a wide range of amino acid solutions to substantially accelerate CO2 #desorption (25.6% for potassium glycinate and 41.1% for potassium lysinate) in the #DirectAirCapture process." 6/8
"Considering the facile synthesis of MCS-SO3H and their superior catalytic efficiency, these findings are expected to pave a new path for energy-efficient #DirectAirCapture."
🚨🗞️Monthly Solar Geoengineering Updates (March'26 Edition)🗞️🚨
From UN review of #SRM tech & its human rights impacts, to US organizations resisting SRM bans, plus new tools & research awards – SRM headlines you need to know from the past month:🧵1/13
1️⃣ @OHCHR_MENA seeks input on climate technologies - The UN Human Rights Office is collecting submissions on how SRM & CDR may impact human rights, with a report due later this year.
2/13
2️⃣ US National Security Framing – ACCF report urges federal research and international governance to prevent rivals from gaining strategic advantage.
🚨Direct air capture (#DAC) using amine-based sorbents is one of the "most promising ways" to remove CO₂, but a core challenge remains: the materials degrade over time, raising costs and limiting scale.
A new study examines why that happens and how to fix it.🧵1/12
2/ Degradation here means any chemical or physical change that reduces CO₂ uptake or increases energy needed for regeneration.
Over time, even small losses compound, turning a promising material into a costly bottleneck.
3/ The paper highlights that degradation is not a single process.
It emerges from a combination of oxidative, thermal, and environmental pathways, each interacting with the sorbent’s molecular structure in different ways.
🚨New research from WashU shows that diamond dust, long proposed as an ideal solar geoengineering (#SRM) material for #SAI, may lose much of its cooling potential when real-world chemistry & manufacturing constraints are taken into account.
DETAILS🧵1/11
2/ Solar geoengineering, particularly stratospheric aerosol injection (#SAI), seeks to mimic volcanic cooling by dispersing reflective particles into the upper atmosphere, reducing incoming solar radiation and temporarily offsetting warming.
3/ Sulfate aerosols (from volcano-like approaches) can cool the planet, but they come with risks: acid rain, ozone damage, and health impacts.
🚨Where should Direct Air Capture (#DAC) be deployed to scale carbon removal?
New research shows: costs are driven less by the technology itself and more by location, climate, and energy systems, making DAC a fundamentally geo-dependent solution.
Details🧵1/10
2/ DAC needs to scale to 0.5–5 GtCO₂/year by 2050, yet current capacity is ~0.00004 Gt.
Scaling requires massive cost reductions, and smart siting.
3/ The study evaluates two leading approaches:
• Solid sorbent DAC (S-DAC)
• Liquid solvent DAC (L-DAC)
Using global, high-resolution data on weather and renewable energy availability.
New study suggests that during the Emeishan supervolcanic eruptions (~260M yrs ago), enhanced weathering of uplifted rocks removed huge amounts of atm CO₂, cutting levels nearly in half.
How?🧵1/11
2/ Large igneous provinces (LIPs) are among the largest volcanic events in Earth’s history, typically releasing huge volumes of lava over 1-5 million years.
They’re widely thought to drive CO₂ spikes, warming, and environmental crises through massive volcanic degassing.
3/ To test this assumption, researchers reconstructed atmospheric CO₂ levels across the Emeishan volcanic episode using carbon isotopes from chlorophyll-derived biomarkers preserved in marine sediments from the Shangsi section in China.
🚨How much does the shape of particles matter for #SolarGeoengineering?
A new study tests whether non-spherical particles could improve the cooling efficiency of #SAI.
The result: shape can help slightly, but particle size & refractive index dominate the cooling effect.🧵1/11
2/ SAI aims to cool Earth by injecting particles into the lower stratosphere that scatter incoming sunlight back to space, increasing planetary reflectivity (albedo).
The effectiveness of these particles depends on their optical properties, how they scatter and absorb sunlight.
3/ Most previous studies optimized SAI particles assuming they're perfect spheres, focusing on 2 parameters: particle radius & refractive index.
But real particles in the atm are often irregular or elongated, raising an imp Q: could particle shape improve solar reflection?