Synthesis of potassium Bitartrate-derived porous carbon via a facile and Self-Activating strategy for CO2 adsorption application

Abstract

Porous carbons are one kind of extensive, sustainable and promising materials for CO2 adsorption, however the preparation of porous carbon mostly occurs by using corrosive and hazardous activating substances such as KOH, H3PO4 and ZnCl2, which not only restricts equipment and safety procedures but also causes serious environmental threat. To overcome those issues, for the first time, potassium bitartrate-derived porous carbons have been prepared via a facile single-step, free of solvent and self-activating approach for CO2 adsorption application. As-prepared carbon shows a high porosity along with hierarchical micro/mesoporous structure and sponge-like morphology. By tuning the activating temperature, these potassium bitartrate-derived carbons present the maximum CO2 capacity of 3.55 mmol g−1 at 25 °C and 5.16 mmol g−1 at 0 °C under 1 bar thanks to both high narrow microprosity along with sponge-like morphology and rich oxygen functionality within the surface. Besides, the optimized sample is a highly selective material for the separation of CO2 from N2 gas and depicts almost constant CO2 adsorption capacity after five consecutive adsorption–desorption cycles claiming promising stability and recyclability from an industrial standpoint. In short, the present single-step and self-activating strategy pave the promising avenue for efficient and enhanced CO2 adsorption performance.