Nitrogen enriched porous carbons from D-glucose with excellent CO2 capture performance

In this study, nitrogen-enriched porous carbonaceous sorbents were successfully prepared by co-hydrothermal treatment of D-glucose and urea, followed by KOH activation under different conditions. Using this new synthesis strategy, the as-prepared adsorbents show a high nitrogen content ranging from 6.20 to 12.17 wt%. In addition, these sorbents also have highly developed porous texture including high narrow microporosity. The optimal sample exhibits the high CO2 uptake of 4.26 and 6.70 mmol/g at 25 and 0 degrees C, respectively, at 1 bar. Additional study finds that both narrow micropores and nitrogen content are important in deciding the CO2 adsorption ability for these adsorbents under ambient conditions. Besides the high CO2 adsorption ability, these adsorbents also demonstrate stable recyclability, high selectivity of CO2 over N-2, suitable heat of adsorption, rapid adsorption kinetics, as well as excellent dynamic CO2 uptake. The above-mentioned excellent CO2 adsorption performance together with the low cost of precursor and facile synthesis strategy prove that these glucose-based porous carbonaceous sorbents are a potential candidate for industrial capture of CO2.