Abstract
The catalyst zinc glutarate (ZnGA) is widely used in the industry for the alternating copolymerization of CO2 with epoxides. However, the activity of this heterogeneous catalyst is restricted to the outer surface of its particles. Consequently, in the current study, to increase the number of active surface metal centers, ZnGA was treated with diverse metal salts to form heterogeneous, surface-modified ZnGA-Metal chloride (ZnGA-M) composite catalysts. These catalysts were found to be highly active for the copolymerization of CO2 and propylene oxide. Among the different metal salts, the catalysts treated with ZnCl2 (ZnGA-Zn) and FeCl3 (ZnGA-Fe) exhibited ~38% and ~25% increased productivities, respectively, compared to untreated ZnGA catalysts. In addition, these surface-modified catalysts are capable of producing high-molecular-weight polymers; thus, this simple and industrially viable surface modification method is beneficial from an environmental and industrial perspective.
Highlights
In recent decades, anthropogenic activities have dramatically increased the concentration of atmospheric CO2 ; this concentration was found to be higher than 400 ppm in 2017 [1]
As a part of our continued research effort to develop heterogeneous catalysts for CO2 conversions, this study reports a facile method for preparing a surface modified zinc glutarate (ZnGA) and its enhanced catalytic activity in the CO2 /propylene oxide (PO) polymerization
Surface-modified ZnGA samples were prepared by treatment with different metal chloride salts and used as new, highly active catalysts in the copolymerization of CO2 and PO
Summary
Anthropogenic activities have dramatically increased the concentration of atmospheric CO2 ; this concentration was found to be higher than 400 ppm in 2017 [1]. One of the most sustainable strategies for utilizing CO2 is the copolymerization of CO2 with epoxides to produce poly(alkylene carbonates). These materials are commercially viable owing to their vast number of applications, such as in adhesives, packing and coating materials, and ceramic binders [18,19,20,21,22]. Homogeneous catalysts, such as metalloporphyrins, β-diiminate Zn complexes, and metal salen complexes have been found to be highly active for the copolymerization of CO2 and epoxides [25,26,27]. The industrial utilization of these homogeneous catalysts is limited because of their complicated syntheses, the use of toxic metals like chromium, and the difficulties in separating the catalyst/product mixtures
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