Utilizing ZrO

Alkali metal-based adsorbents are used in the direct air capture of CO2, but the process is hindered by high energy demands, mainly due to the slow adsorption and desorption kinetics of CO2, This necessitates the use of a catalytic support like ZrO2 to reduce the energy barrier associated with the reaction. This study uses both density functional theory and experimental approaches to explore how ZrO2 support interacts with H2O during the carbonation reaction. The findings suggest that the presence of [ZrO(OH)]+ and OH- on the monoclinic ZrO2 (001) surface greatly speeds up the dissociation of H2O, reducing energy use in CO2 capture and increasing thermal efficiency. The catalytic role of ZrO2 is further confirmed through analyses using thermogravimetric-mass spectrometry (TG-MS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).