Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Down to Business
  • Published:

Industrial synthesis of energy storage materials using CO2 as a feedstock material

Nature Reviews Clean Technology volume 1, pages 228–229 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Carbon materials such as graphite are important in energy storage technologies, but their mining and/or synthesis can have large environmental impacts. UP Catalyst synthesizes these materials directly from CO2 in an electrolysis process.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Molten salt carbon capture and electrochemical transformation process.

References

  1. Fleischmann, J. et al. Battery 2030: resilient, sustainable, and circular. McKinsey & Company https://go.nature.com/4hreROy (2023).

  2. Accardo, A., Dotelli, G., Musa, M. L. & Spessa, E. Life cycle assessment of an NMC battery for application to electric light-duty commercial vehicles and comparison with a sodium-nickel-chloride battery. Appl. Sci. 11, 1160 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Kim, J. H. et al. Perspective on carbon nanotubes as conducting agent in lithium-ion batteries: the status and future challenges. Carbon Lett. 33, 325–333 (2023).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Wang, G., Li, H., Zhang, Q., Yu, Z. & Qu, M. The study of carbon nanotubes as conductive additives of cathode in lithium ion batteries. J. Solid State Electrochem. 15, 759–764 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Dühnen, S. et al. Toward green battery cells: perspective on materials and technologies. Small Methods 4, 2000039 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. ESG of graphite: how do synthetic graphite and natural graphite compare? Benchmark Mineral Intelligence https://go.nature.com/4kGrS9N (2022).

  7. Carrère, T., Khalid, U., Baumann, M., Bouzidi, M. & Allard, B. Carbon footprint assessment of manufacturing of synthetic graphite battery anode material for electric mobility applications. J. Energy Storage 94, 112356 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Teah, H. Y. et al. Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of long and pure carbon nanotubes synthesized via on-substrate and fluidized-bed chemical vapor deposition. ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 8, 1730–1740 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Remmel, A.-L. et al. CO2 transformed into highly active catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction via low-temperature molten salt electrolysis. Electrochem. Commun. 166, 107781 (2024).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Karu, E. & Urb, G. Method for producing carbon material from raw material gas. Japan patent JP7504515B1 (2024).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UP Catalyst OÜ, Tallinn, Estonia

    Sebastian Pohlmann

Authors
  1. Sebastian Pohlmann
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sebastian Pohlmann.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

S.P. is Chief Technology Officer of UP Catalyst, a company engaged in applying CO2 electrolysis for synthesis of graphite and multi-walled carbon nanotubes.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pohlmann, S. Industrial synthesis of energy storage materials using CO2 as a feedstock material. Nat. Rev. Clean Technol. 1, 228–229 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44359-025-00049-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44359-025-00049-x

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing