Surface carbonation governs olivine reactivity for rapid CO2 mineralization
Abstract
Ultramafic rocks are a global resource with vast potential for permanent CO ₂ mineralization. However, the origin of the striking reactivity difference between Ca- and Mg-bearing olivine remains poorly understood. Here we show that this difference arises not merely from the type of cation, but more fundamentally from how these cations modulate the oxygen reactivity. Nonbridging oxygens serve as the oxygen source for CO ₂ surface reactions, which in Ca-olivine reduce the Ca ²⁺ dissolution barrier by 60% and accelerate ion release by six orders of magnitude. The calculated apparent dissolution rate constants reproduce the experimentally observed complete conversion of Ca-olivine within hours under 1 atm CO ₂ . This multiscale framework reveals how surface reactions govern silicate carbonation and provides a predictive basis for modeling and engineering large-scale CO ₂ mineralization in both synthetic materials and basaltic reservoirs.
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BibTeX
@article{shao2026surface,
title = {{Surface carbonation governs olivine reactivity for rapid CO2 mineralization}},
author = {Zihua Shao and Yunfeng Liang and Gyuhwan Jo and Keisuke Nakamura and Takeshi Tsuji},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-78548-z},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78548-z},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Surface carbonation governs olivine reactivity for rapid CO2 mineralization
AU - Zihua Shao
AU - Yunfeng Liang
AU - Gyuhwan Jo
AU - Keisuke Nakamura
AU - Takeshi Tsuji
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/14
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-78548-z
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78548-z
AB - Ultramafic rocks are a global resource with vast potential for permanent CO ₂ mineralization. However, the origin of the striking reactivity difference between Ca- and Mg-bearing olivine remains poorly understood. Here we show that this difference arises not merely from the type of cation, but more fundamentally from how these cations modulate the oxygen reactivity. Nonbridging oxygens serve as the oxygen source for CO ₂ surface reactions, which in Ca-olivine reduce the Ca ²⁺ dissolution barrier by 60% and accelerate ion release by six orders of magnitude. The calculated apparent dissolution rate constants reproduce the experimentally observed complete conversion of Ca-olivine within hours under 1 atm CO ₂ . This multiscale framework reveals how surface reactions govern silicate carbonation and provides a predictive basis for modeling and engineering large-scale CO ₂ mineralization in both synthetic materials and basaltic reservoirs.
SN - 2041-1723
ER -