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Facile One‐Pot Synthesis of Activated Porous Biocarbons with a High Nitrogen Content for CO 2 Capture
Author(s) -
Singh Mr. Gurwinder,
Lakhi Kripal S.,
Park DaeHwan,
Srivastava Prashant,
Naidu Ravi,
Vinu Ajayan
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemnanomat
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.947
H-Index - 32
ISSN - 2199-692X
DOI - 10.1002/cnma.201700348
Subject(s) - nitrogen , microporous material , adsorption , activated carbon , pyrolysis , carbon fibers , porosity , biomass (ecology) , urea , chemical engineering , specific surface area , chemistry , materials science , organic chemistry , catalysis , composite number , agronomy , composite material , engineering , biology
A facile one‐pot synthesis of porous activated biocarbons with a high nitrogen content (NEPBs) through a simple in‐situ self‐assembly of Arundo donax and urea combined with a solid state activation using KOH/ZnCl 2 is presented. NEPBs show dominant microporous character and possess a high nitrogen content in the form of pyridinic‐N and pyrrolic‐N and a high specific surface area. The nitrogen content of NEPBs was determined to be in the range of 7.74–19.15%, which was much higher than that of biocarbon derived from non‐activated biomass (1.12%). We also demonstrate that the nitrogen content of NEPBs can easily be tuned by adjusting the impregnation ratios of urea and KOH/ZnCl 2 . The NEPBs show impressively high CO 2 adsorption capacities of 4.8 mmol g −1 at 0 °C/1 bar and 14.1 mmol g −1 at 0 °C/30 bar. A high value of the isosteric heat of adsorption is observed (39 kJ mol −1 ), confirming the role of nitrogen to enhance the CO 2 adsorption capacities through a strong adsorbent‐adsorbate interaction. It is anticipated that the strategy presented here could be extended for the generation of a series of other biomass‐based porous carbon materials with much higher nitrogen contents and controlled textural properties for applications including energy storage and conversion and carbon capture.