Catalyst-TiO(OH)₂ could drastically reduce the energy consumption of CO₂ capture

Implementing Paris Climate Accord is inhibited by the high energy consumption of the state-of-the-art CO₂ capture technologies due to the notoriously slow kinetics in CO₂ desorption step of CO₂ capture. To address the challenge, here we report that nanostructured TiO(OH)₂ as a catalyst is capable of drastically increasing the rates of CO₂ desorption from spent monoethanolamine (MEA) by over 4500%. This discovery makes CO₂ capture successful at much lower temperatures, which not only dramatically reduces energy consumption but also amine losses and prevents emission of carcinogenic amine-decomposition byproducts. The catalytic effect of TiO(OH)₂ is observed with Raman characterization. The stabilities of the catalyst and MEA are confirmed with 50 cyclic CO₂ sorption and sorption. A possible mechanism is proposed for the TiO(OH)₂-catalyzed CO₂ capture. TiO(OH)₂ could be a key to the future success of Paris Climat e Accord.