Ghazala Zainab1, Aijaz Ahmed Babar1, Nadir Ali2, Ahmed A Aboalhassan1, Xianfeng Wang3, Jianyong Yu4, Bin Ding5. 1. State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China. 2. Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China. 3. State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; Innovation Center for Textile Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, China. Electronic address: wxf@dhu.edu.cn. 4. Innovation Center for Textile Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, China. 5. State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, 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: Carbonaceous materials are believed to be excellent source for developing essential vessels for carbon dioxide (CO2) adsorption. However, most of the carbonaceous materials used for CO2 capture have particle form, which is hard to recycle and also may cause choking of the gas pipes. Additionally, they also either require chemical activation or attachment of any functional groups for proficient CO2 capture. Thus, facile fabrication of multi-aperture porous carbon nanofiber (CNF) based CO2 sorbent via combination of three simple steps of electrospinning, washing, and carbonization, may be an effective approach for developing efficient sorbents for CO2 capture. EXPERIMENT: PAN/PVP composite solution was electrospun, PVP was used as pore forming template and PAN was opted as nitrogen rich precursor for carbon during electrospinning process. Selective removal of PVP from the electrospun PAN/PVP fiber matrix prior to carbonization generated highly rough and extremely porous PAN nanofibers, which were then carbonized to develop multi-aperture/opening porous carbon nanofibers (PCNF) with ultra-small pores with average pore diameter of ~0.71 nm. FINDINGS: Synthesized PCNF exhibited high CO2 gas selectivity (S = 20) and offered superior CO2 adsorption performance of 3.11 mmol/g. Moreover, no apparent change in mass for up to 50 cycles of CO2 adsorption/desorption unveil the long-term stability of synthesized PCNF, making them a potential candidate for CO2 adsorption application.
HYPOTHESIS: Carbonaceous materials are believed to be excellent source for developing essential vessels for carbon dioxide (CO2) adsorption. However, most of the carbonaceous materials used for CO2 capture have particle form, which is hard to recycle and also may cause choking of the gas pipes. Additionally, they also either require chemical activation or attachment of any functional groups for proficient CO2 capture. Thus, facile fabrication of multi-aperture porous carbon nanofiber (CNF) based CO2 sorbent via combination of three simple steps of electrospinning, washing, and carbonization, may be an effective approach for developing efficient sorbents for CO2 capture. EXPERIMENT: PAN/PVP composite solution was electrospun, PVP was used as pore forming template and PAN was opted as nitrogen rich precursor for carbon during electrospinning process. Selective removal of PVP from the electrospun PAN/PVP fiber matrix prior to carbonization generated highly rough and extremely porous PAN nanofibers, which were then carbonized to develop multi-aperture/opening porous carbon nanofibers (PCNF) with ultra-small pores with average pore diameter of ~0.71 nm. FINDINGS: Synthesized PCNF exhibited high CO2 gas selectivity (S = 20) and offered superior CO2 adsorption performance of 3.11 mmol/g. Moreover, no apparent change in mass for up to 50 cycles of CO2 adsorption/desorption unveil the long-term stability of synthesized PCNF, making them a potential candidate for CO2 adsorption application.