Highly efficient catalytic direct air capture of CO2 using amphoyeric amino acid sorbent with acid‐base bi‐functional 3D graphene catalyst

Direct air capture (DAC) of CO2 is vital for combating global climate change, but DAC technologies have a low absorption efficiency due to the low concentration (∼400 ppm) of atmospheric CO2. A novel DAC technology was developed to solve this issue using lysine (an amino acid) as a sorbent and N-doped 3D graphene as an absorption/desorption-enhanced bifunctional catalyst. Introducing only 500 ppm N-3DG catalyst increased the working time (≥90% CO2 absorption efficiency) by 233% and its absorption capacity by 197%. The catalyst also significantly accelerated the CO2 working desorption capacity and rate by ∼280% and ∼338% at 70 °C, enabling regeneration of the sorbent by utilizing low-temperature waste heats. Furthermore, the excellent stability of the system was confirmed by 50 cyclic tests. The chemical mechanism driving catalytic CO2 capture was postulated and confirmed by density functional theory computations. This study provides a new strategy for developing next-generation DAC technologies.