Halocarbons are chemicals found in many everyday products such as air conditioners, cleaning sprays or solvents. They are very potent greenhouse gases, meaning that even small amounts in the atmosphere can trap large amounts of heat and impact the climate. New types of halocarbons have been developed to replace the ones that were banned for damaging the ozone layer and contributing most heavily to climate change. These newer chemicals are often not regulated because they do not last as long in the atmosphere. However, their impact on the heat trapped by the Earth's atmosphere, still needs to be quantified.

We have established a new laboratory at California State University Los Angeles to study these new chemicals and find their climate impact. We present our first results with a molecule currently used in lithium batteries. To confirm our findings, additional tests were carried out at the University of Toronto. The molecule behavior was also studied theoretically using advanced computer models.