MOFs for Hands-On CO2 Capture in Climate Justice Modules
Author: Emilio Aguilar
Faculty Supervisor: Michael Enright
Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry
Excessive levels of CO2 in the atmosphere leads to a rise in global temperatures, resulting in climate change. It’s imperative that we deepen our understanding of CO2 and its impact on our environment to guide the decisions of emerging scientists, ensuring that they make informed decisions for the future. This work is part of an effort to develop a teaching module, including a hands-on laboratory experiment/demonstration, on climate justice that is suitable for both upper and lower division chemistry courses. As an engagement tool to supplement education around CO2 climate justice, we are developing a laboratory experiment centered on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) which can help mitigate CO2 emissions through capture technology. By synthesizing MOFs to showcase carbon capture, we’re developing a teaching unit for chemistry courses to facilitate student engagement with climate justice concepts. Here, progress developing two experiment variations are showcased suitable for modules with participants with different levels of chemistry knowledge: one employing ZIF-8 to absorb methyl blue dye from water to showcase the potential of MOFs as a solution for CO2 capture with a strong visual within a model system and the other, CD-MOF-1, where CO2 is captured and observed by a colorimetric change with the use of methyl red indicator. These modules are designed to provide an impactful, hands-on experience intended to serve as an educational tool to better educate our community and the next generation of scientists on CO2 and climate justice.