Abstract
In this work, we have described the characterization of hybrid silica nanoparticles of 50 nm size, showing outstanding size homogeneity, a large surface area, and remarkable CO2 sorption/desorption capabilities. A wide battery of techniques was conducted ranging from spectroscopies such as: UV-Vis and IR, to microscopies (SEM, AFM) and CO2 sorption/desorption isotherms, thus with the purpose of the full characterization of the material. The bare SiO2 (50 nm) nanoparticles modified with 3-aminopropyl (triethoxysilane), APTES@SiO2 (50 nm), show a remarkable CO2 sequestration enhancement compared to the pristine material (0.57 vs. 0.80 mmol/g respectively at 50 °C). Furthermore, when comparing them to their 200 nm size counterparts (SiO2 (200 nm) and APTES@SiO2 (200 nm)), there is a marked CO2 capture increment as a consequence of their significantly larger micropore volume (0.25 cm3/g). Additionally, ideal absorbed solution theory (IAST) was conducted to determine the CO2/N2 selectivity at 25 and 50 °C of the four materials of study, which turned out to be >70, being in the range of performance of the most efficient microporous materials reported to date, even surpassing those based on silica.
Highlights
IntroductionAnthropogenic emission of greenhouse gasses, especially carbon dioxide (CO2 ), has been the center of attention in the media, scientific, and public communities for over four decades [1], reaching an inflection point in 1990, with the Kyoto protocol agreements [2]
The hybrid nanomaterials were immobilized into Au wafers following the protocol adapted from Cueto et al [35] and recorded in a ThermoScientific Apreo C-LV field emission electron microscope (FE-SEM) equipped with an Aztec Oxford energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis system (EDX)
Kaiser tests were conducted in the two samples bearing the unknown concentration of APTES, (i) APTES@SiO2 (200 nm), and (ii) APTES@SiO2 (50 nm) (Figure 2 and Scheme 2)
Summary
Anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gasses, especially carbon dioxide (CO2 ), has been the center of attention in the media, scientific, and public communities for over four decades [1], reaching an inflection point in 1990, with the Kyoto protocol agreements [2]. 2 capture and COmodification, 2/N2 selectivity (iii) SiO2 porous materials adsorption capacity, good selectivity, and tolerance to moisture [25,26,27]; surface benefits from their easy surface modification, low energy consumption, considerable admodification by amine-based ligandsand is still a widespread tool for the improvement the sorption capacity, good selectivity, tolerance to moisture surface of modisorption characteristics fication by amine-based[28,29,30,31]. The novel nm NPs before and after the modification were studied as well as a surface properties, morphology, and CO2 adsorption/desorption characteristics of the comparative between the previously reported nm size and the new nanomaterials novel 50 nm SiO2NPs before and after the modification were studied as well as a compar(Figure.
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