It's called the biradical Criegee, and despite its unattractive name, this particle could be very useful in naturally cleaning the atmosphere and partially offsetting global warming. A work published in Science analyzes the revolutionary effects of this strange molecule.
Criegee biradicals are capable of oxidizing global warming pollutants in the atmosphere such as nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. The results of the work show that biradicals accelerate the formation of sulfates and nitrates in the atmosphere, compounds that lead to the formation of clouds with the potential to cool the planet.
These particles can be obtained from oxygen and methane gas and, although their existence had already been postulated in the 1950s, until now no one had been able to detect them. The team of scientists from the University of Manchester, the University of Bristol and Sandia National Laboratories has achieved this by designing a device that harnesses light from a third-generation synchrotron particle accelerator. Although many more tests will still have to be carried out and the impact of the release of radicals in the atmosphere will be predicted, this work opens a new avenue for the search for solutions to problems such as air pollution and climate change.
