żě˛ĄĘÓƵ is among the recipients of federal clean energy funding, with $695,000 awarded to support research advancing next‑generation carbon dioxide capture technology at the .
Announced March 27 at York’s Markham Campus, Natural Resources Canada will invest $28.9 million in 12 projects across the country to build and deploy clean energy technologies through its Energy Innovation Program.
These investments support efforts to reduce emissions and modernize Canada’s energy systems as clean technologies advance.
York's project, led by Associate Professor Marina Freire‑Gormaly at Lassonde, is one of four initiatives funded in the Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage stream which supports early research on capturing, moving, story and reusing carbon dioxide.
Freire-Gormaly will focus on developing a carbon capture technology that replaces heat‑intensive systems with electrochemical and light‑driven processes. By using advanced materials, the technology aims to cut energy use, reduce operating costs and improve performance.
“This funding allows us to move promising carbon capture ideas from the lab and scale them up, closer to real‑world use,” says Freire‑Gormaly. “It supports York’s role in developing practical, low‑energy solutions that can help reduce emissions.”
The project, titled “Development and scale-up of novel solid C02 capture photoelectrochemical active sorbents,” began in 2023 and will continue until March 2027 with a focus on creating and testing new solid materials that absorb carbon dioxide when exposed to light and electricity, instead of through thermal processes.
Freire‑Gormaly and her team of researchers – including co-applicant Assistant Professor Solomon Boakye-Yiadom and other collaborators at York's Faculty of Science – have developed new electrode materials using copper, aerogels and specialized coatings to improve performance.
Researchers are using a small, custom-built lab to accurately measure how much carbon dioxide is captured. Findings will help evaluate costs, environmental impacts and carbon emissions, and help determine how sustainable and practical the innovative solvent-based pathway would be at an industrial scale.
“These innovations are crucial towards a net-zero energy transition for all Canadians,” says Friere-Gormaly.
Tim Hodgson, minister of energy and natural resources, says the project reflects Canada’s goal to scale up clean energy and responsibly grow the nation’s conventional energy industry.
“We are investing to provide reliable, affordable and clean power across the country that will propel our economic growth, protect affordability for Canadian families and make Canada a low-risk, low-cost, low-carbon energy superpower.”