Unique biological amino acids turn CO2 emission into novel nanomaterials with three switchable product pathways

Buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere is a major contributor to global climate change, while the current technologies for CO2 capture and sequestration are energy consuming and the current CO2 conversion technologies either require expensive catalysts or have low conversion efficiency. Here, we report an amino acid (AA) based nanotechnology that absorbs and converts CO2 from simulated flue gases into new nanomaterials. Our computational and experimental studies have identified unique AAs capturing CO2 as bicarbonate nanomaterials, and have shown that the formation of bicarbonate nanomaterials is AA-structure dependent. The unique AA solvents have further demonstrated faster kinetics and higher CO2 absorption capacity compared to the state-of-the-art solvent technology (i.e., 30 wt% monoethanolamine). Our innovative technology offers a first-of-its-kind system that provides three flexible, switchable product pathways for CO2 capture (i.e., use of the nanomaterials as a commercially valuable product, regenerating the CO2-rich nanomaterials for geological sequestration or for use in enhanced oil recovery, or sequestering the nanomaterials in a solid form). Worldwide demands for CO2 emission reduction and new nanomaterial production continue to grow, the technology reported here is a highly efficient and cost-effective approach in cutting CO2 emission into the atmosphere. •A completely new concept with potential flexible pathways of a single solvent system was developed for CO2 management.•Gaseous CO2 was converted into innovative nanofibers and nanoflowers.•The first approach produces bicarbonate nanofibers.•The formation of nanomaterials is amino acid-structure dependent. [Display omitted]