A diamino-functionalized silsesquioxane pillared graphene oxide for CO2 capture.

Abstract

In the race for viable solutions that could slow down carbon emissions and help in meeting the climate change targets a lot of effort is being made towards the development of suitable CO2 adsorbents with high surface area, tunable pore size and surface functionalities that could enhance selective adsorption. Here, we explored the use of silsesquioxane pillared graphene oxide for CO2 capture; we modified silsesquioxane loading and processing parameters in order to obtain pillared structures with nanopores of the tailored size and surface properties to maximize the CO2 sorption capacity. Powder X-ray diffraction, XPS and FTIR spectroscopies, thermal analysis (DTA/TGA), surface area measurements and CO2 adsorption measurements were employed to characterize the materials and evaluate their performance. Through this optimisation process, materials with good CO2 storage capacities of up to 1.7/1.5 mmol g−1 at 273 K/298 K in atmospheric pressure, were achieved.