Scientists have found a way to utilize greenhouse gases to recycle batteries for smartphones and electric vehicles

A recent study showed that the CO ₂ after being collected and stored can be used to extract useful metals, serving the recycling of batteries instead of burying them underground.

CO2 is the main cause of climate change, so scientists are constantly developing technologies to capture CO ₂ emitted from power plants and other sources of emissions. However, most of the CO ₂ after being seized is usually buried underground or converted into fuel or electricity. The problem is that capturing and storing such CO ₂ is very costly and wasteful.

If this process is further improved and replicated, it may increase the economic efficiency of capturing CO2.(Illustration).

Julien Leclaire, lead researcher at the University of Lyon, France, said that having too few options for CO2 after being seized was because no one wanted to pay them.

To make capturing CO ₂ more attractive, Leclaire's team has found a way to use this gas to create important materials for the production of batteries used on smartphones, cars, etc.

Leclaire's team collected CO ₂ from the car exhaust, then cooled it and pumped it into a chemical mixture called polyamines. CO ₂ combines with polyamines and creates many molecules of different shapes and sizes.

Lecraire found that this process can separate metal compounds. Because one metal will dissolve in the liquid while another will form a solid. In such a series of experiments, they successfully separated materials such as lanthanum, cobalt and nickel. All of these materials are used to make batteries on smartphones, computers and magnets.

If this process is further improved and replicated, it can increase the economic efficiency of capturing CO ₂ , thereby both protecting the environment and creating ample battery supply. In the past, the process of separating materials used to make batteries often used toxic chemicals such as acids. Therefore, if it can be replaced with CO2, it will minimize the impact on the environment.

Many researchers and technology companies are trying to convert CO ₂ into useful materials like plastics, which are often extracted from petroleum. But of course there are still scientific challenges that cannot find a solution overnight.

• The new material captures CO2 extremely efficiently
• Collecting CO2 to exploit oil