Electrochemical cell generates electricity

Human beings have been pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in large amounts since the advent of the industrial age, leading to global warming. Scientists have been working overtime to figure out a way to reduce the amounts of the gas that we emit, but while there have been great improvements, far too much is still going into the air.

Meanwhile, other scientists are taking a different approach—they are looking for ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in an economically feasible way. In this new effort, the researchers at Cornell report on cell technology they developed that differs significantly from the approach used by others.

To create a cell that removes carbon dioxide, researchers have tried using magnesium, lithium or sodium as an anode—the results to date have worked to some extent, but they produce carbonates, which are not very useful.

To get around that problem, the researchers instead used aluminum foil to make the anode—the cathode was made of stainless steel mesh and an ionic liquid with some aluminum chloride salt in it was used as the electrolyte.

In testing their cell, the duo found that it was capable of generating up to 13 ampere-hours for every gram of carbon that it captured. They point out that it did so without the need for any sort of catalyst and that it was done at room temperature.

In addition, the output from the system consisted of aluminum oxalate, which they noted can be used to make oxalic acid, a material that is commonly used in several industries, which means it could be easily sold.

The researchers acknowledge that their cell has one serious drawback at the moment—it won't work if water is present in the mix of gasses it pulls in, a situation that would exist in most real-world locations. They plan to search for another electrolyte that is less sensitive to moisture to solve that problem.