Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation for determination of optimum parameters for adsorption of supercritical methane in pillared layered pores

Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations of methane adsorption in fullerene pillared graphene nanocomposites

The objective of this study is to investigate the methane adsorption performance of fullerene pillared graphene nanocomposites (FPGNs) with adjustable micro and meso porous morphology and high surface/weight ratios. Different types of fullerenes are considered as pillar units to adjust the porosity of FPGNs. The gravimetric, volumetric and deliverable methane storage capacities of FPGNs are examined using grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations. The lithium doping strategy is also employed to further improve the methane adsorption performance of FPGNs. GCMC simulations revealed that FPGNs have promising potential for methane storage applications with the appropriate selection of design parameters. In particular, the simulation results demonstrated that the gravimetric absolute methane uptake of FPGNs could reach 12.5 mmol/g at 298 K and 40 bars and, this value could be increased up to 19.7 mmol/g with appropriate doping ratio under the same conditions.

Confinement-Mediated Phase Behavior of Hydrocarbon Fluids: Insights from Monte Carlo Simulations

The phase behavior of hydrocarbon fluids confined in porous media has been reported to deviate significantly from that in the bulk environment due to the existence of sub-10 nm pores. Though experiments and simulations have measured the bubble/dew points and sorption isotherms of hydrocarbons confined in both natural and synthetic nanopores, the confinement effects in terms of the strength of fluid-pore interactions tuned by surface wettability and chemistry have received comparably less discussion. More importantly, the underlying physics of confinement-induced phenomena remain obfuscated. In this work, we studied the phase behavior and capillary condensation of n-hexane to understand the effects of confinement at the molecular level. To systematically investigate the pore effects, we constructed two types of wall confinements; one is a structureless virtual wall described by the Steele potential and the other one is an all-atom amorphous silica structure with surface modified by hydroxyl groups. Our numerical results demonstrated the importance of fluid-pore interaction, pore size, and pore morphology effects in mediating the pressure-volume-temperature (PVT) properties of hydrocarbons. The most remarkable finding of this work was that the saturation pressure predicted from the van der Waals-type adsorption isothermal loop could be elevated or suppressed relative to the bulk phase, as illustrated in the graphical abstract. As the surface energy (i.e., fluid-pore interaction) decreased, the isothermal vapor pressure increased, indicating a greater preference for the fluid to exist in the vapor state. Sufficient reduction of the fluid-pore interactions could even elevate the vapor pressure above that of the bulk fluid.

Adsorption of probe molecules in pillared interlayered clays: experiment and computer simulation

In this paper we investigate the adsorption of various probe molecules in order to characterize the porous structure of a series of pillared interlayered clays (PILC). To that aim, volumetric and microcalorimetric adsorption experiments were performed on various Zr PILC samples using nitrogen, toluene, and mesitylene as probe molecules. For one of the samples, neutron scattering experiments were also performed using toluene as adsorbate. Various structural models are proposed and tested by means of a comprehensive computer simulation study, using both geometric and percolation analysis in combination with Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulations in order to model the volumetric and microcalorimetric isotherms. On the basis of this analysis, we propose a series of structural models that aim at accounting for the adsorption experimental behavior, and make possible a microscopic interpretation of the role played by the different interactions and steric effects in the adsorption processes in these rather complex disordered microporous systems.

High pressure excess isotherms for adsorption of oxygen and nitrogen in zeolites

High-pressure oxygen is an integral part of fuel cell systems, many NASA in situ resource utilization concepts, and life support systems for extravehicular activity. Due to the limited information available for system designs over wide ranges of temperature and pressure, volumetric methods are applied to measure adsorption isotherms of O(2) and N(2) on NaX and NaY zeolites covering temperatures from 105 to 448 K and pressures up to 150 bar. Experimental data measured using two apparatuses with distinctly different designs show good agreement for overlapping temperatures. Excess adsorption isotherms are modeled using a traditional isotherm model for absolute adsorption with a correction for the gas capacity of the adsorption space. Comparing two models with temperature-dependent coefficients, a virial isotherm model provides a better description than a Toth isotherm model, even with the same number of parameters. With more virial coefficients, such as a cubic form in loading and quadratic form in reciprocal temperature, the virial model can describe all data accurately over wide ranges of temperature and pressure.

Density functional theory of adsorption in pillared slit-like pores

We propose a density functional theory to describe adsorption of Lennard-Jones fluid in pillared slit like pores. Specifically, the pillars are built of chains that are bonded by their ends to the opposite pore walls. The approach we propose combines theory of quenched-annealed systems and theory of nonuniform fluids involving chain molecules. We compare the results of theoretical predictions with grand canonical ensemble Monte Carlo simulations and compute theoretical capillary condensation phase diagrams for several model systems.

Molecular simulation of adsorption and separation of mixtures of short linear alkanes in pillared layered materials at ambient temperature

Grand canonical Monte Carlo and configurational-bias Monte Carlo techniques are carried out to simulate the adsorption of ternary and quaternary mixtures of short linear alkanes, involving methane, ethane, propane, and n-butane, in pillared layered materials at ambient temperature, T=300 K. In the simulation, a pillared layered pore is modeled by a uniform distribution of pillars between two layered walls built by making two separate talc lamellas parallel each other with a given size of interlayer distance. The interaction between fluid molecules and two layered walls is measured by storing potentials calculated in advance at a series of grid points. The interaction between fluid molecules and pillars is also calculated by a site-to-site method. The potential model proposed in this work is proved to be effective because of the simulation result being good agreement with the experimental data for the adsorption of nitrogen at 77 K. Then, the adsorption isotherms of mixtures of short linear alkanes in pillared layered pores with three different porosities psi=0.98, 0.93 and 0.85, and three pore widths H=1.02, 1.70 and 2.38 nm at 300 K are obtained by taking advantage of the model. The simulation results tell us that the longer chain component is preferentially adsorbed at low pressures, and its adsorption increases and then decreases as the pressure increases while the shorter chain component is still adsorbed at high pressures. Moreover, the sorption selectivity of pillared layered materials for the longest chain component in alkane mixtures increases as the mole fraction of methane in the gas phase increases. The selectivity of pillared layered materials for the longest chain component in alkane mixtures also increases as the pore width decreases and the porosity increases.

Adsorption of carbon dioxide of 1-site and 3-site models in pillared clays: A Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo simulation

Adsorption behavior of carbon dioxide confined in pillared clays is analyzed by using constant pressure Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo (GEMC) method. In our simulation, 1-site and 3-site models are used to represent carbon dioxide. At the 1-site model, carbon dioxide is described as a Lennard-Jones (LJ) sphere, while at the 3-site model, carbon dioxide is modeled as a three-sites linear chain represented by EPM2 potential considering the quadrapolar effect. The potential model from Yi et al. for pillared clays is used to emphasize its quasi two-dimensional structure. Comparing the calculated results from the 1-site and the 3-site models at T=228.15 and 258.15 K, we observe that the adsorption amount from the two models is the same basically. However, the local density presents a significant difference, because the shoulder in the main peak near the wall from 3-site model can reflect the orientation of carbon dioxide. Accordingly, in the systematical investigation to explore the effect of porosity and pore width on the adsorption of carbon dioxide in pillared clays, the 3-site model was only used. We observe that for a narrow pore of H=1.02 nm, each isotherm shape displays type I curve, suggesting that it is not inflected by the porosity. However, for the larger pores of H=1.70 and H=2.38 nm, the increase of the porosity alters the shape of adsorption isotherms from a simple linear relation to the first order jump, indicating that the porosity is of very important factor to affect adsorption and phase behavior of fluids confined in pillared clays. The excess adsorptions of carbon dioxide at supercritical temperatures of T=323.15 and 348.15 K are also investigated. We find that the maximum exists for each excess isotherm, and the optimal pressure corresponding to the maximum increases with the pore width. However, the porosity has no significant effect on the optimal pressure.

Adsorption of argon from sub- to supercritical conditions on graphitized thermal carbon black and in graphitic slit pores: A grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation study

In this paper we consider the adsorption of argon on the surface of graphitized thermal carbon black and in slit pores at temperatures ranging from subcritical to supercritical conditions by the method of grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation. Attention is paid to the variation of the adsorbed density when the temperature crosses the critical point. The behavior of the adsorbed density versus pressure (bulk density) shows interesting behavior at temperatures in the vicinity of and those above the critical point and also at extremely high pressures. Isotherms at temperatures greater than the critical temperature exhibit a clear maximum, and near the critical temperature this maximum is a very sharp spike. Under the supercritical conditions and very high pressure the excess of adsorbed density decreases towards zero value for a graphite surface, while for slit pores negative excess density is possible at extremely high pressures. For imperfect pores (defined as pores that cannot accommodate an integral number of parallel layers under moderate conditions) the pressure at which the excess pore density becomes negative is less than that for perfect pores, and this is due to the packing effect in those imperfect pores. However, at extremely high pressure molecules can be packed in parallel layers once chemical potential is great enough to overcome the repulsions among adsorbed molecules.

Grand canonical monte carlo simulation study of methane adsorption at an open graphite surface and in slit-like carbon pores at 273 K

Grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulation was used for the systematic investigation of the supercritical methane adsorption at 273 K on an open graphite surface and in slit-like micropores of different sizes. For both considered adsorption systems the calculated excess adsorption isotherms exhibit a maximum. The effect of the pore size on the maximum surface excess and isosteric enthalpy of adsorption for methane storage at 273 K is discussed. The microscopic detailed picture of methane densification near the homogeneous graphite wall and in slit-like pores at 273 K is presented with selected local density profiles and snapshots. Finally, the reliable pore size distributions, obtained in the range of the microporosity, for two pitch-based microporous activated carbon fibers are calculated from the local excess adsorption isotherms obtained via the GCMC simulation. The current systematic study of supercritical methane adsorption both on an open graphite surface and in slit-like micropores performed by the GCMC summarizes recent investigations performed at slightly different temperatures and usually a lower pressure range by advanced methods based on the statistical thermodynamics.

Models of (ZrO2)n Complexes Intercalated into Montmorillonite

The article discusses the properties of several model zirconium dioxide complexes (ZrO(2))(n)() intercalated into the interlayer space of montmorillonite clay. Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation was used in a series of numerical experiments during analysis of the low-temperature nitrogen adsorption in the micropores thus generated. The goal of such experiments was to determine the geometrical parameters of introduced molecular complexes of different types inside micropores of various widths. The obtained information was used to characterize textural and structural properties of three pillared interlayer materials prepared by using pillaring species synthesized via aging of zirconyl chloride solutions containing as additives chlorides of Ca, Sr, or Ba. It was found that in the cases of Ba and Ca the interlayer micropores are filled with isolated tetramers (ZrO(2))(4). Meanwhile, the presence of Sr in the pillaring solution, most likely, favors the preservation of larger sheetlike complexes (ZrO(2))(8).

Force field parametrization through fitting on inflection points in isotherms

We present a method to determine potential parameters in molecular simulations of confined systems through fitting on experimental isotherms with inflection points. The procedure uniquely determines the adsorbent-adsorbate interaction parameters and is very sensitive to the size parameter. The inflection points in the isotherms are often related to a subtle interplay between different adsorption sites. If a force field can predict this interplay, it also reproduces the remaining part of the isotherm correctly, i.e., the Henry coefficients and saturation loadings.

Self-diffusion of methane in single-walled carbon nanotubes at sub- and supercritical conditions

The diffusivities of methane in single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are investigated at various temperatures and pressures using classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations complemented with grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations. The carbon atoms at the nanotubes are structured according to the (m, m) armchair arrangement and the interactions between each methane molecule and all atoms of the confining surface are explicitly considered. It is found that the parallel self-diffusion coefficient of methane in an infinitely long, defect-free SWNT decreases dramatically as the temperature falls, especially at subcritical temperatures and high loading of gas molecules when the adsorbed gas forms a solidlike structure. With the increase in pressure, the diffusion coefficient first declines rapidly and then exhibits a nonmonotonic behavior due to the layering transitions of the adsorbed gas molecules as seen in the equilibrium density profiles. At a subcritical temperature, the diffusion of methane in a fully loaded SWNT follows a solidlike behavior, and the value of the diffusion coefficient varies drastically with the nanotube diameter. At a supercritical temperature, however, the diffusion coefficient at high pressure reaches a plateau, with the limiting value essentially independent of the nanotube size. For SWNTs with the radius larger than approximately 2 nm, capillary condensation occurs when the temperature is sufficiently low, following the layer-by-layer adsorption of gas molecules on the nanotube surface. For SWNTs with a diameter less than about 2 nm, no condensation is observed because the system becomes essentially one-dimensional.