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. 2022 Oct 12;27(20):6816.
doi: 10.3390/molecules27206816.

One-Pot Synthesis of N-Rich Porous Carbon for Efficient CO2 Adsorption Performance

Qiyun Yu  1 , Jiali Bai  1 , Jiamei Huang  1 , Muslum Demir  2 , Bilge Nazli Altay  3   4 , Xin Hu  1 , Linlin Wang  5
Affiliations

One-Pot Synthesis of N-Rich Porous Carbon for Efficient CO2 Adsorption Performance

Qiyun Yu et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

N-enriched porous carbons have played an important part in CO2 adsorption application thanks to their abundant porosity, high stability and tailorable surface properties while still suffering from a non-efficient and high-cost synthesis method. Herein, a series of N-doped porous carbons were prepared by a facile one-pot KOH activating strategy from commercial urea formaldehyde resin (UF). The textural properties and nitrogen content of the N-doped carbons were carefully controlled by the activating temperature and KOH/UF mass ratios. As-prepared N-doped carbons show 3D block-shaped morphology, the BET surface area of up to 980 m2/g together with a pore volume of 0.52 cm3/g and N content of 23.51 wt%. The optimal adsorbent (UFK-600-0.2) presents a high CO2 uptake capacity of 4.03 mmol/g at 0 °C and 1 bar. Moreover, as-prepared N-doped carbon adsorbents show moderate isosteric heat of adsorption (43-53 kJ/mol), acceptable ideal adsorption solution theory (IAST) selectivity of 35 and outstanding recycling performance. It has been pointed out that while the CO2 uptake was mostly dependent on the textural feature, the N content of carbon also plays a critical role to define the CO2 adsorption performance. The present study delivers favorable N-doped carbon for CO2 uptake and provides a promising strategy for the design and synthesis of the carbon adsorbents.

Keywords: CO2 adsorption; N-doped; one-pot KOH activation; porous carbon.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
SEM images (a,b), TEM image (c) and XRD pattern (d) of UFK-600-0.2.
Figure 2
Figure 2
XPS survey (a) of selected adsorbents, XPS N1s of (b) UFK-600-0.2, (c) UFK-600-0.3, and (d) UFK-650-0.3.
Figure 3
Figure 3
N2 sorption isotherms of the samples prepared at KOH/UF mass ratio of (a) 0.1, (b) 0.2 and (c) 0.3. Filled and empty symbols represent adsorption and desorption branches, respectively.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Pore size distribution of the samples prepared at KOH/UF mass ratio of (a) 0.1, (b) 0.2 and (c) 0.3. Due to the almost non-porous nature of UFK-550-0.1, its PSD is not shown here.
Figure 5
Figure 5
CO2 adsorption isotherms at 25 °C (filled) and 0 °C (empty) for urea formaldehyde resin-derived N-doped carbons prepared under KOH/UF mass ratio of (a) 0.1, (b) 0.2 and (c) 0.3.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Plot of each porous properties characteristics (a) SBET, (b) V0, (c) Vt and (d) nitrogen content versus CO2 uptake at 25 °C and 1 bar.
Figure 7
Figure 7
(a) CO2 and N2 adsorption isotherms of UFK-600-0.2 at 25 °C and 1 bar, (b) CO2 adsorption kinetics at 25 °C for UFK-600-0.2, (c) Qst on selected sorbents and (d) breakthrough curves of UFK-600-0.2. Adsorption conditions: gas pressure 1 bar, adsorption temperature 25 °C, gas flow rate 10 mL/min, inlet CO2 concentration 10 vol.%.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Cyclic study of CO2 adsorption for UFK-600-0.2 at 25 °C and 1 bar.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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