From lemons to lemonade: Reaction uses carbon dioxide to make carbon-based semiconductor

phys.org ^ | 5/21/12 | Marcia Goodrich

[PapaBear3625]

By the way, Li3N will be very water sensitive, so much so that I expect it will react spontaneously with moisture in the atmosphere, which will further complicate any real use of this system.

A bigger complication: you get Li3N by exposing Li to nitrogen. Refining lithium, however, consumes 35 kWh/kg. In comparison, burning one kg of coal produces just 2 kWh of heat energy (and much less than that in actual electrical output)

[MrB]

I reject the premise of the title that CO2 is “lemons”.

[Suz in AZ]

Very cool. But I still don’t get why people want to suffocate the plants.

[FreeAtlanta]

Another fertilizer bomb...

This tech does seem pretty cool. It it is as good as it sounds, Al Gore and the other environmental pimps won't be happy because they really don't want solutions.

[monocle]

In my gut I suspect that the formation of lithium nitride requires a lot of energy, particularly if the starting material is elemental lithium. Production of elemental lithium is a highly energy intensive process.

[TXnMA]

17.5 X Coal energy cost -- forget it!

Bingo! The answer as to why this will remain a laboratory curiosity -- at least as far as disposal of CO₂ is concerned.

IF somone develops a semiconductor process/product based on the reaction product, a few Kg of CO₂ might be sequestered by it. Qtherwise, it is a mere curiosity...

Of course, let me be the first to point out that there is ZERO need to "sequester" atmospheric CO₂ in the first place...