Liquid metal with solvents for CO2 capture

Carbon dioxide (CO) capture is an essential method for emission control. In CO capture, although with the promising advantage of industrial application, chemical absorption meets the challenge of substantial energy consumption. Thus, an advanced solvent with liquid metal GaInSn/PANI/TEMPO has been first developed to reduce the energy consumption. The intensified thermoelectric effect between GaInSn/PANI/TEMPO has the potential to enhance the CO desorption. Density functional theory (DFT) model and spherical mass transfer and energy transfer model in the nanoscale are developed to study the mass and energy transfer in CO and GaInSn/PANI/TEMPO. The CO fraction, electron density, and velocity in the nanodomain are studied. The symmetrical electron density zone is identified for the thermoelectric effect. The mass transfer coefficient is increased by twofolds. The thermoelectric conversion amount reaches 32.6–44.8% and the energy consumption is reduced to 1.07 GJ t. The CO desorption is finally proven to occur at temperature below 339 K.