Facile construction of highly porous carbon materials derived from porous aromatic frameworks for greenhouse gas adsorption and separation

Abstract

Greenhouse gas predominantly emission from the burning of fossil fuels lead to a series of environmental problems, the capture and storage of greenhouse gas have become the key to addressing this issue. Herein, we present the facile synthesis of a series of porous carbon materials derived from porous aromatic frameworks constructed from commercially available and cheap building units via chemical activation. In contrast with the precursor porous aromatic frameworks, the porosity of such activated porous carbon materials is greatly boosted and the resulting porous carbon materials feature excellent surface areas up to 2863 m 2 g −1 and total pore volumes as high as 1.348 cm 3 g −1 . The abundant microporous properties endow the materials with considerable greenhouse gases of CO 2 and CH 4 adsorption ability at ambient conditions, exhibiting that at 273 K and 1 bar the CO 2 capture capacity is as high as 6.09 mmol g −1 , comparable to those reported porous carbon materials synthesized for this key adsorption. Ideal adsorption solution theory predicts that the prepared porous aromatic frameworks and their derived porous carbon materials display decent CO 2 /N 2 and CH 4 /N 2 selectivities, and thus their construction and properties may pave a new avenue for greenhouse gas capture and separation. A series of porous carbon materials derived from porous aromatic frameworks were synthesized. The boosted porosity and abundant microporous textures of such materials endow them with considerable greenhouse gases of CO 2 and CH 4 adsorption and separation ability. • A series of porous carbon materials derived from porous aromatic frameworks were synthesized. • These porous carbon materials feature abundant microporous textures and significant BET surface areas up to 2863 m 2 g −1 . • PCM-D700 exhibits a CO 2 capacity of 6.09 mmol g −1 and a CH 4 capacity of 2.46 at 273 K and 1 bar. • These porous carbon materials are capable of selective adsorption of CO 2 over N 2 and CH 4 over N 2 . • This study provides further insight into greenhouse gas capture and separation using porous carbon materials.