The rapidly increasing atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide necessitates the development of novel technologies for sustainable carbon capture and utilisation procedures. This cross-disciplinary research project is expected to deliver advancements in catalyst design towards direct capture and utilisation of carbon dioxide (CO2) to produce value-added products, such as polymers. We intend to probe the mechanistic pathway of CO2 adsorption on our catalysts by mimicking our reaction conditions in situ using inelastic neutron scattering (INS). By contrasting the vibrational spectra of our samples under a dry inert atmosphere, with samples exposed to CO2 we hope to observe the formation reactive intermediates that are crucial for the activation of CO2. INS is uniquely suited to this problem, particularly TOSCA for the access to the mid infra-red region.