CO2 capture using three-dimensionally ordered micromesoporous carbon

Abstract Adsorption of CO 2 on three-dimensionally ordered micromesoporous carbon with a spherical pore structure has been studied using gravimetric and manometric analyses. Adsorptive properties were compared with activated carbon and nanostructured carbon materials such as carbon nanotubes, zeolitic-imidazolate framework-derived carbon, carbon nanohorns and ordered mesoporous carbon materials. The regular spherical pores of 14–15 nm diameter with a large pore volume of 3.4 cm 3  g −1 provided a very high CO 2 adsorption capacity exceeding the compared carbon materials at high gas pressures (≥4 MPa and room temperature). A strong increase in the isosteric heat of CO 2 adsorption with increasing surface coverage indicates that high pressure adsorption was predominantly controlled by strong quadrupole moment interactions between CO 2 molecules and less intensive interactions of CO 2 with the mesoporous surface. Micropores in the walls of the main spherical mesopores, with a pore volume of 0.17 cm 3  g −1 , provided good CO 2 adsorption properties at atmospheric pressure, characterized by rectilinear isotherms and a predominant surface coverage mechanism. Analysis of the strength of CO 2 interaction with the carbon adsorbent and a kinetic study of CO 2 adsorption revealed excellent CO 2 adsorption-desorption reversibility.