Ph.D. Senior Researcher at Korea Institute of Science and Technology
Professor Ji-Soo Jang, in collaboration with Professor Taekwang Yoon of Ajou University and Professor Hansel Kim of Chungbuk National University, has developed a novel energy device that generates electricity during the process of capturing greenhouse gases.
The research team introduced a new concept device termed the Gas Capture and Electricity Generator (GCEG), which produces electrical power as greenhouse gases are adsorbed from the atmosphere. This innovation goes beyond conventional approaches that merely capture greenhouse gases, transforming them into a usable energy resource.
Professor Ji-Soo Jang stated, “This research demonstrates that greenhouse gases are not merely pollutants to be managed, but can serve as a new energy resource. We aim to further develop this technology into an environmental platform that not only achieves carbon neutrality but also generates energy.”
Amid growing global efforts to address climate change, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies have gained attention. However, existing CCUS systems typically require substantial energy input for gas collection and processing.
To overcome this limitation, the research team proposed a fundamentally new mechanism that directly converts the physicochemical energy generated during gas adsorption on electrode surfaces into electrical energy.
The developed GCEG device consists of an asymmetric structure combining carbon-based electrodes with hydrogel materials. When greenhouse gases such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) or carbon dioxide (CO₂) are adsorbed, charge redistribution and ion migration occur within the device, enabling continuous direct current (DC) power generation without any external power source. In essence, atmospheric pollutants act as the “fuel” for electricity generation, simultaneously purifying the environment while supplying energy.
This technology is expected to be widely applicable in self-powered smart environmental sensors, battery-free IoT systems, and industrial facilities where large volumes of emissions are generated. In such settings, it could enable simultaneous energy harvesting and carbon reduction. In particular, its integration into distributed energy systems is anticipated to accelerate the realization of carbon neutrality.
The research findings were published in Energy & Environmental Science, one of the world’s leading journals in materials science.
There are a few adjacent spaces and players working toward similar goals, though not always in exactly the same way.
Carbon capture and utilization startups like CarbonCure, Climeworks, and LanzaTech are not generating electricity from CO₂, but they are treating emissions as a resource, turning them into concrete, fuels, or chemicals. The philosophy is similar: carbon is not just waste.
Several academic groups, including teams at MIT, Stanford, and across Europe, are working on electrochemical carbon capture using electro-swing adsorption. These systems use electricity to capture and release CO₂ more efficiently, though they are not fully self-powered like GCEG.
There is also a growing field of micro-energy harvesting—technologies that generate small amounts of power from heat differences, humidity, motion, or chemical gradients. The GCEG fits into this category, but with a twist: the “fuel” is pollution itself.
Other experimental systems generate electricity from moisture in the air or from ion movement. These rely on similar physical principles, using natural gradients, but are not specifically designed to capture greenhouse gases.
