Air to fuel: Direct capture of CO₂ from air and in-situ solar-driven conversion into syngas via Ni_x/NaA nanomaterials

Ever-increasing CO₂ emissions and atmospheric concentration mainly due to the burning of traditional fossil fuels have caused severe global warming and climate change problems. Inspired by nature’s carbon cycle, we propose a novel dual functional catalyst-sorbent to tackle energy and environmental problems simultaneously via direct capture of CO₂ from air and in-situ solar-driven conversion into clean fuels. Economically and operationally advantageous, the planned coupling reaction can be carried out in a single reactor without the requirement for an extra trapping device. The great CO₂ capture and conversion performance in an integrated step is shown by the CO₂ capacity of up to 0.38 mmol·g⁻¹ for adsorption from 500 ppm CO₂ at 25 °C and the CO₂ conversion rate of up to 95%. Importantly, the catalyst-sorbent is constituted of a nonprecious metal Ni catalyst and an inexpensive commercially available CO₂ sorbent, viz, zeolite NaA. Furthermore, this designed dual functional material also exhibits outstanding stability performance. This work offers a novel pathway of capturing CO₂ in the air at room temperature and converting it by CH₄ into fuel, contributing to the new era of carbon neutrality.