Amino Acid-DrivenOne-Step Process to Transform CO₂ into Barium CarbonateNanoparticles

Controlling carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission is critical since CO₂ is the primary contributor to global warming, posing significant threats to human survival and leading to unwanted changes in biological systems. Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) has been studied worldwide, but methods that are effective, efficient, economical, and environmentally friendly are lacking. In this study, we developed a unique method to achieve CO₂ capture and conversion in a single step. The process of capturing and converting CO₂ into value-added BaCO₃ nanoparticles (nano-BaCO₃) is detailed as an illustrative example. Nano-BaCO₃, with an average size of 85 nm, was obtained without requiring external energy. The use of amino acid resulted in faster CO₂ absorption and more uniform particle sizes compared to the same process without the use of amino acid. Moreover, the amino acid was recycled and reused without any additional treatment, and nano-BaCO₃ production was observed in multiple cycles. In addition, our method has been proven to be applicable for CO₂ conversion from simulated flue gases with various CO₂ levels (e.g., 4% and 10%).