This Tiny Device Could End Climate Change, Turns Pollution Into Hydrogen

The majority of the world’s scientific minds are made up when it comes to climate change. Not only is it real, it’s the single greatest threat that humanity is facing. While large-scale solutions to the problem have yet to be devised, scientists have created a tiny machine that could hold the answer. This device basically absorbs polluted air and turns it into hydrogen, which can be used as fuel.

At this point, it’s no secret that pollution is a major contributing factor to climate change due to the greenhouse gasses that make up the bulk of its mass. Thanks to a device that can convert air pollution into usable fuel, however, humanity might actually get some use out of this terrible environmental hazard, Futurism reports.

The device is the creation of Belgian researchers from the University of Antwerp and University of Leuven (KU Leuven). It’s basically a two-chambered cell with photoelectrochemical properties. According to the paper published by the researchers, air pollutants are absorbed into one chamber, broken down, and then recovered in the form of hydrogen energy.

“Simultaneously, energy is recovered as hydrogen gas at a dark Pt cathode,” the paper reads. “Air remediation is coupled to energy recuperation in a stand-alone device. The presence of oxygen in the carrier gas promotes the mineralization efficiency with only limited loss in photocurrent.”

One of the researchers behind the device also explained to Interesting Engineering how the device works. Bioengineering professor at University at Antwerp, Sammy Verbruggen notes how useful this discovery can be.

“We use a small device with two rooms separated by a membrane,” Verbruggen said. “Air is purified on one side, while on the other side hydrogen gas is produced from a part of the degradation products. This hydrogen gas can be stored and used later as fuel, as is already being done in some hydrogen buses, for example.”