Carbon capture technology has been garnering more and more attention as one way to solve the world’s human-made emissions problem, but costs remain an obstacle. But another technology might help: turning CO2 back into fuel. Two recent inventions are giving hope, and both have to do with nanocatalysts. As the name suggests, these are microscopic catalysts—chemicals that accelerate a chemical reaction between other elements—and these catalysts can be used in hydrogenation to produce useful gases. Hydrogenation put simply, means adding hydrogen atoms to a molecule and therefore removing other atoms from it. With carbon dioxide, hydrogenation could work by removing the oxygen atoms and replacing them with hydrogen, creating hydrocarbons. Normally, hydrogenation requires extremely high temperatures to occur, and this makes the process costly. It also requires a catalyst, which typically comes in the form of platinum or palladium—both expensive precious metals. Now, it seems there are two alternatives […]