Efficient carbon dioxide capture by nitrogen and sulfur dual-doped mesoporous carbon spheres from polybenzoxazines synthesized by a simple strategy

Abstract

Nitrogen and sulfur dual-doped ordered mesoporous carbon has been synthesized from a novel polybenzoxazine using resorcinol, 2-aminothiazole, formaldehyde and different ampliphilictriblock copolymers by a simple one-pot strategy. The structure, morphology, and elemental compositions of the carbon was characterized using X-ray diffraction, raman spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopry. The effect of carbonization temperature, type of soft template and soft template concentration on the textural properties and CO2 adsorption capacity of porous carbon spheres has been studied. By varying the synthesis conditions, ordered mesoporous N, S dual-doped carbon with improved mesoporosity, specific surface areas of up to 910 m2/g and pore volume of 0.42 cm3/g were achieved. CO2 adsorption results revealed that the synthesized carbon possesses excellent performance as an absorbent for CO2 capture at 1.0 bar (4.25 and 3.17 mmol/g at 273 and 298 K, respectively). Apart from the micropores, presence of both nitrogen and sulfur elements are also necessary for achieving a high CO2 capture performance.