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Tailoring microporosity and nitrogen content in carbons for achieving high uptake of CO2 at ambient conditions

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Abstract

A series of nitrogen-containing carbon spheres (CS) was prepared using the modified Stöber method. These CS were synthesized by using resorcinol and formaldehyde as carbon precursors, melamine as nitrogen precursor and ammonia as a polymerization reaction catalyst. Hydrothermal treatment followed by activation of these polymer spheres resulted in highly porous nitrogen-containing CS. Elemental analysis and N2 adsorption showed that the aforementioned CS exhibited high surface area (reaching 1,610 m2/g) with large fraction of fine micropores (volume of micropores smaller than 1 nm was estimated to be 0.40 cm3/g) and comparatively high nitrogen content (about 4.0 at.%). Interestingly, high CO2 adsorption capacities, 4.4 and 6.9 mmol/g, were obtained for these CS at 1 bar and two temperatures, 25 and 0 °C, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

The TEM data were obtained at the (cryo) TEM facility at the Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, supported by the Ohio Research Scholars Program Research Cluster on Surfaces in Advanced Materials. The authors thank Dr. Min Gao for technical support with the TEM experiments.

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  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Kent State University, Kent, OH, 44242, USA

    Nilantha P. Wickramaratne & Mietek Jaroniec

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  1. Nilantha P. Wickramaratne
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  2. Mietek Jaroniec
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Correspondence to Mietek Jaroniec.

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Wickramaratne, N.P., Jaroniec, M. Tailoring microporosity and nitrogen content in carbons for achieving high uptake of CO2 at ambient conditions. Adsorption 20, 287–293 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-013-9572-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-013-9572-x

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