‘Exciting’ discovery of material that can store greenhouse gases faster than trees

The findings were hailed by researchers who said the material could help “solve society’s biggest challenges”.

Scientists have hailed the “exciting” discovery of a type of porous material that can store carbon dioxide.

The material is made up of hollow cage-like molecules that have high storage capabilities for greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and sulphur hexafluoride – a more potent gas that can last thousands of years in the atmosphere.

Dr Mark Little, who jointly led the research at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, said the discovery has the potential to “help solve society’s biggest challenges”.

“Direct air capture of carbon dioxide is increasingly important because even when we stop emitting carbon dioxide, there’s still going to be a huge need to capture previous emissions that are already in the environment.

“Planting trees is a very effective way to absorb carbon, but it’s very slow. So we need a human intervention – like human-made molecules – to capture greenhouse gases efficiently from the environment more quickly.”

Greenhouse gases are one of the main factors responsible for causing global warming and climate change.

They work like the walls of a greenhouse, trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. While carbon dioxide is released naturally, sulphur hexafluoride is a man-made gas that traps heat very effectively.

In 2019 the UK became the first major economy to pass into law a commitment to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.