Capturing CO2 from the air using sunlight

Reducing CO2 emissions

This invention could contribute significantly to reducing CO2 emissions. In the summer of 2024, Toyota presented a prototype of the CO2 ‘capture device’ during an event in Paris. Since 2016 DIFFER and Toyota have been working together on solutions for CO2 reduction as part of the energy transition, such as producing hydrogen using sunlight and water. Inspired by the work on hydrogen, the concept has been expanded with the appropriate modifications at device level to extract CO2 from the atmosphere to store it, using sunlight as the driving force.

New reactor

Extracting CO2 from the air is an energy-consuming process. DIFFER and Toyota’s new reactor inventively combines light-assisted processes and membrane technology that simplify the process in a single device and holds the promise
of boosting efficiency. The concept is based on light-absorbing materials and photoelectrochemical membrane reactors. These operate on sunlight and capture CO2 from the atmosphere, then transport it to a specific compartment where it is stored for further use.

The invention is based on abundantly available materials and components and therefore has high exploitation potential. The combination of the two technologies has never been demonstrated before. Applications of the reactor could also be conceivable in industry, since these contribute to the objective of negative CO2 emissions.