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OTTAWA, October 28, 2010  —  The ability to keep CO₂ out of the atmosphere to help prevent climate change is a global issue. The challenge is to use materials that can capture the CO₂ and easily release it for permanent storage.

Researchers at the University of Calgary and the University of Ottawa have provided deeper insight into CO₂ capture by “seeing” the exact sites where CO₂ is held in a capture material. The researchers’ discovery, published in the prestigious journal Science, will allow scientists to design better materials to capture more CO₂.

An analogy to illustrate the findings could be learning about a better fit between a baseball glove and a ball in order to improve performance. Different gloves have a better fit for different sizes of balls, and it’s easier to catch a ball with a glove that is moulded to the ball. In the case of CO₂ capture, think of the ball as the CO₂ and the glove as the material that houses the CO₂.

“We have pinpointed where the CO₂ molecule is held by direct experimental visualization (X-ray crystallography), and through computer modelling, we can see how every “finger” contributes to holding the CO₂ in place,” says co-author George Shimizu, a chemistry professor in the Faculty of Science at the University of Calgary whose research was funded by the University of Calgary’s Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy and NSERC.

What’s also significant about this discovery is the exceptional correlation between an experiment and computer simulation. Computer simulations can now be more confidently applied to predict the CO₂ capture ability of materials before experiments are done in the laboratory. “The detailed computational analysis of how CO₂ is captured in this material provides new directions for designing improved materials,” says Tom Woo, an associate professor in chemistry and Canada Research Chair at the University of Ottawa and a co-author of the work along with his graduate student Peter Boyd.

This research may be used for a variety of applications. “We could ultimately see this process helping to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions on the top of coal burning flue stacks, or it could be used to help remove CO₂ from unconventional natural gas reservoirs,” says Ramanathan Vaidhyanathan, the paper’s lead author and a research associate at the University of Calgary.

The article, entitled “Direct observation and quantification of CO₂ binding within an amine-functionalized nanoporous solid,” is published in Science and written by Ramanathan Vaidhyanathan, Simon S. Iremonger and George K. H. Shimizu from the University of Calgary as well as Peter G. Boyd, Saman Alavi and Tom K. Woo from the University of Ottawa.

The University of Ottawa, one of Canada’s top research-intensive universities, is dedicated to forging collaborative research on pressing global issues. We are committed to excellence and encourage an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge creation that attracts the best academic talent from across Canada and around the world.