Carbon Capture Materials

Carbon capture materials research is redefining how the world traps, manages, and mitigates greenhouse gases. UChicago PME scientists are harnessing artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics to rapidly discover novel porous materials—such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)—with unique, cage-like structures optimized for trapping CO2 and methane. UChicago PME engineers are driving practical, high-impact innovations that range from carbon nanofiber direct air capture (DAC) filters capable of turning standard building vents into highly efficient carbon-capture devices, to pioneering "reactive capture" systems that simultaneously capture and convert CO2  into valuable industrial feedstocks like carbon monoxide in a single, energy-saving step, as well as to designing electrochemical approaches to enhance ocean alkalinity. By bridging the gap between molecular-level synthesis and scalable climate tech, UChicago PME is accelerating the development of real-world materials to meet critical global decarbonization deadlines.