Scientists have hailed the “exciting” discovery of a material which it is claimed can store carbon dioxide quicker than trees.
The porous material is made from hollow cage-like molecules which have high storage capabilities for greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and sulphur hexafluoride.
Published in the Nature Synthesis journal, Dr Marc Little, who jointly led the research, said: “This is an exciting discovery because we need new porous materials to help solve society’s biggest challenges.
“For example, direct air capture of carbon dioxide is increasingly important because even when we stop emitting carbon dioxide, there’s still going to be a huge need to capture previous emissions that are already in the environment.
“Planting trees is a very effective way to absorb carbon, but it’s very slow. So we need a human intervention – like human-made molecules – to capture greenhouse gases efficiently from the environment more quickly.”
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The researchers used computer simulations to predict how molecules would assemble themselves into the new porous material.
Dr Little said the method could be improved in future through the use of AI.
“Combining computational studies like ours with new AI technologies could create an unprecedented supply of new materials to solve the most pressing societal challenges, and this study is an important step in this direction,” he explained.
“If you’re able to use AI tools to predict those quicker and more accurately then we can really accelerate the rate at which we can discover these new types of porous materials without actually having to make any of them in the lab beforehand.”
Last month, it was revealed the government was investing nearly £2 million in helping firms develop net zero AI.
