Nadir Ali1, Aijaz Ahmed Babar2, Yufei Zhang3, Nousheen Iqbal4, Xianfeng Wang5, Jianyong Yu6, Bin Ding7. 1. Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; Textile Engineering Department, Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, Jamshoro 76060, Pakistan. 2. State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; Textile Engineering Department, Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, Jamshoro 76060, Pakistan. 3. Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China. 4. State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China. 5. Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; Innovation Center for Textile Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, China. Electronic address: wxf@dhu.edu.cn. 6. Innovation Center for Textile Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, China. 7. Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; Innovation Center for Textile Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, China. Electronic address: binding@dhu.edu.cn.
Abstract
HYPOTHESIS: Carbon based nanofibrous materials are considered to be promising sorbents for the CO2 capture and storage. However, the precise control of porous structure with flexibility still remains a challenging task. In this research, we report a simple strategy to develop tin oxide (SnO2) embedded, flexible and highly porous core-shell structured carbon nanofibers (CNFs) derived from polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) core-shell nanofibers. EXPERIMENT: PAN/PVDF core-shell solutions were electrospun using co-axial electrospinning process. The as spun PAN core, and PVDF shell, with an appropriate amount of SnO2, fibers were stabilized followed by carbonization to develop SnO2 embedded highly porous and flexible core-shell structured CNFs. FINDINGS: The optimized CNFs membrane shows a prominent CO2 capture capacity of 2.6 mmol g-1 at room temperature, excellent CO2 selectivity than N2, and a remarkable cyclic stability. After 20 adsorption-desorption cycles, the CO2 capture capacity retains >95% of the preliminary value showing the long-term stability and practical worth of the final product. The loading of SnO2 nanoparticles in the carbon matrix not only enhanced the thermal stability of the precursor nanofibers, their surface characteristics, and porous structure to capture CO2 molecules, but also improves the flexibility of the CNFs by serving as a plasticizer for single-fiber-crack connection. Meaningfully, the flexible SnO2 embedded core-shell CNFs with excellent structural stability can prevail the limitations of annihilation and collapse of structures for conventional adsorbents, which makes them strongly useful and applicable. This research introduces a new route to produce highly porous and flexible materials as solid adsorbents for CO2 capture.
HYPOTHESIS: Carbon based nanofibrous materials are considered to be promising sorbents for the CO2 capture and storage. However, the precise control of porous structure with flexibility still remains a challenging task. In this research, we report a simple strategy to develop tin oxide (SnO2) embedded, flexible and highly porous core-shell structured carbon nanofibers (CNFs) derived from polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) core-shell nanofibers. EXPERIMENT: PAN/PVDF core-shell solutions were electrospun using co-axial electrospinning process. The as spun PAN core, and PVDF shell, with an appropriate amount of SnO2, fibers were stabilized followed by carbonization to develop SnO2 embedded highly porous and flexible core-shell structured CNFs. FINDINGS: The optimized CNFs membrane shows a prominent CO2 capture capacity of 2.6 mmol g-1 at room temperature, excellent CO2 selectivity than N2, and a remarkable cyclic stability. After 20 adsorption-desorption cycles, the CO2 capture capacity retains >95% of the preliminary value showing the long-term stability and practical worth of the final product. The loading of SnO2 nanoparticles in the carbon matrix not only enhanced the thermal stability of the precursor nanofibers, their surface characteristics, and porous structure to capture CO2 molecules, but also improves the flexibility of the CNFs by serving as a plasticizer for single-fiber-crack connection. Meaningfully, the flexible SnO2 embedded core-shell CNFs with excellent structural stability can prevail the limitations of annihilation and collapse of structures for conventional adsorbents, which makes them strongly useful and applicable. This research introduces a new route to produce highly porous and flexible materials as solid adsorbents for CO2 capture.