Aqueous Electrochemical Direct Air Capture Using Alizarin Red S

Direct Air Capture (DAC) is an emerging form of atmospheric carbon dioxide removal. Conventional DAC sorbents utilize swings in temperature and/or pressure, which are energy intensive and hinders large-scale deployment. In this work, we demonstrate a green, aqueous electrochemical DAC system that employs Alizarin Red S (ARS) as an electroactive capturing agent. The system has an estimated minimum theoretical energy requirement of 24.6 kJe/mole of CO₂, demonstrated reversible electrochemical behavior over 100 cycles and 205 hours, and maintained an average coulombic efficiency of 100 % with an average capacity retention of 99.8 %. With a techno-economic analysis, we highlight the impact of current density and electrode surface area on levelized costs, and we describe a path to lower the cost of DAC below US$500 per tonne of CO₂.