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NEWSLINE PAPER,-
Scientists have made a significant breakthrough by finding a material capable of storing carbon dioxide faster than trees.
It involves the creation of loose molecules like cages with high capacity for greenhouse gases like CO2 and sulfur hexafluoride.
Scientists at Edinburgh-based Heriot-Watt University have managed to create a new molecule capable of storing greenhouse gases.
Greenhouse gases are one of the major causes of global warming and climate change.
This discovery raised the idea that this molecule would be able to significantly help the struggle aimed at reducing greenhouse gases, because of its loose and cage-like molecular structure.
The research, published in the journal Nature Synthesis, explains that the new material is believed to have the ability to remove CO2, as well as other polluting gases from the atmosphere, such as sulfur hexafluoride, at a faster rate than planting trees, quoted the Carbon Capture Technology Expo Europe.
Sulphur hexsafluoride itself is a stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and can last thousands of years in the atmosphere.
"Planting trees is a very effective way to absorb carbon, but very slowly. So we need human intervention – like human-made molecules – to capture greenhouse gases from the environment more efficiently and faster," says Dr. Marc Little, a professor at Heriot-Watt University who is also a member of the research.
Besides, when this remarkable breakthrough was still in development, researchers used AI to help them shape material.
The use of this technology, helped researchers to predict how molecules would build up during the formation process, The Independent quoted it as saying.
Dr Little described the research as an "important step" to developing other materials, and added that molecules with complex structures could also be used to remove toxic compounds.
Source : The Independent,Carbon Capture Technology Expo Europe