Synthesis of nanoscale zero-valent iron doped carbonized zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 for methylene blue removal in water

Nanoscale zero-valent iron-doped carbonized zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (nZVI/CZIF-8) was prepared by carbonation of ferric nitrate and ZIF-8 at 800 °C and used as an adsorbent to remove methylene blue (MB) from water. The synthesized nZVI/CZIF-8 has a specific surface area of 806.9 m2/g, a pore volume of 0.86 cm3/g and an nZVI content of 1.35%, respectively. Both the nZVI/CZIF-8 and CZIF-8 have identical functional groups of O-H, C-H and C=C. With the increase of CZIF-8 size, MB removal rate increased. The doping of nZVI increased the MB removal percentage from 74.5% for ZIF-8 to 96.2% within 80 min for nZVI/CZIF-8. The MB removal percentage increased with the dosage of nZVI/CZIF-8. The MB adsorption with the adsorbents conforms to the Freundlich adsorption isothermal model and the removal rate fitted well to a pseudo-first-order model. The results demonstrate the feasibility of synthesizing high active and stable nZVI/CZIF-8 particles.

Oxygen and nitrogen enriched pectin-derived micro-meso porous carbon for CO2 uptake

Oxygen and nitrogen enriched micro-meso porous carbon powders have been prepared from pectin and melamine as oxygen and nitrogen containing organic precursors, respectively. The synthesis process has been performed following a solvothermal approach in an alkaline solution during which Pluronic F127 was added to the solution as the soft template. Following the solvothermal treatment, the carbonization process has been performed at 700, 850 and 950 °C. The synthesized porous carbons have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The surface area of 499.5 m2 g-1, total pore volume of 0.35 cm3 g-1, and a high nitrogen and oxygen content of 9.3 and 29.1 wt% are displayed for the fine sample. The optimal porous carbon had CO2 adsorption of up to 3.1 mmol g-1 at 273 K at 1 bar owing to abundant basic nitrogen-containing functionalities and the valuable micro-meso porous structure. Despite the absence of any reagent and also having a relatively moderate specific surface area, compared to similar materials, a very high ratio of adsorption capacity to specific surface area (6.2 μmol m-2) was observed. The Elovich kinetic model was found to be the best and the physisorption process was reported.

Nitrogen and sulfur Co-doped microporous activated carbon macro-spheres for CO2 capture

Millimeter-sized nitrogen and sulfur co-doped microporous activated carbon spheres (NSCSs) were first synthesized from poly(styrene-vinylimidazole-divinylbenzene) resin spheres through concentrated H₂SO₄ sulfonation, carbonization and KOH activation. Styrene (ST) and N-vinylimidazole (VIM) were carbon and nitrogen sources, while the sulfonic acid functional groups introduced by the simple concentrated sulfuric acid sulfonation worked simultaneously as cross-linking agent and sulfur source during the following thermal treatments. It was found that the surface chemistries, textural structures, and CO₂ adsorption performances of the NSCSs were significantly affected by the addition of VIM. The NSCS-4-700 sample with a molar ratio of ST: VIM = 1: 0.75 showed the best CO₂ uptake at different temperatures and pressures. An exhaustive adsorption evaluation indicated that CO₂ sorption at low pressures originated from the synergistic effect of surface chemistry and micropores below 8.04 Å, while at the moderate pressure of 8.0 bar, CO₂ uptake was dominated by the volume of micropores. The thermodynamics suggested the exothermic and orderly nature of the adsorption process, which was dominated by a physisorption mechanism. The high CO₂ adsorption capacity, fast kinetic adsorption rate, and great regeneration stability of the nitrogen and sulfur co-doped activated carbon spheres indicated that the as-prepared carbon adsorbents were good candidates for large-scale CO₂ capture.

The synergistic effect of oxygen-containing functional groups on CO2 adsorption by the glucose–potassium citrate-derived activated carbon

A high surface area activated carbon prepared by an innovative approach using glucose as a carbon source and neutral potassium citrate (PC) as an activator was compared with the porous carbon from glucose using corrosive potassium hydroxide (KOH) as an activator. The PC method showed two notable advantages over KOH activation. The PC method not only significantly increased the yield of the activated carbon, particularly at high carbonization temperatures without sacrificing porosity, but also enhanced the oxygen content in the activated carbon. After investigating CO₂ adsorption on these activated carbons, a remarkable uptake of 3.57 mmol g⁻¹ at 25 °C at 1 bar was observed by the glucose–PC-derived carbon sample, which possessed the highest oxygen content. In addition, the glucose–PC-derived carbon samples exhibited higher CO₂/N₂ selectivity than the glucose–KOH derived samples. Coupled with the density functional theory (DFT) analysis that focused on the binding energy calculation, the doped oxygen-containing functional groups, such as carboxyl and hydroxyl groups, could effectively enhance the adsorption of CO₂.

A high surface area activated carbon which was prepared by an innovative approach using glucose as a carbon source and neutral potassium citrate as an activator was compared with the porous carbon using corrosive potassium hydroxide as activator.