Development of TRPN dendrimer-modified disordered mesoporous silica for CO{sub 2} capture

Highlights: • A novel series of TRPN dendrimers are synthesized. • Structurally disordered mesoporous silica was used to develop the CO{sub 2} adsorbent. • The CO{sub 2} adsorption capacity is relatively high. • The sorbent exhibits a high stability after 12 cycling runs. • The sorbent achieves complete desorption at low temperature (60 °C). - Abstract: A novel series of tri(3-aminopropyl) amine (TRPN) dendrimers were synthesized and impregnated on structurally disordered mesoporous silica (DMS) to generate CO{sub 2} adsorbents (TS). The physicochemical and adsorption properties of the adsorbents before and after dendrimer modification were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and N{sub 2} adsorption–desorption (N{sub 2}-BET) techniques. CO{sub 2} adsorption–desorption tests indicated that the sorbent demonstrates high CO{sub 2} adsorption capacity (138.1 mg g{sup −1} for G1 sample TS-G1-3CN-50 and 91.7 mg g{sup −1} for G2 sample TS-G2-6CN-50), and can completely desorb CO{sub 2} under vacuum at 60 °C. Its CO{sub 2} adsorption capacity at 25 °C increases with the amine loading, achieving the highest adsorption capacity (140.6 mg g{sup −1} for TS-G1-3CN) at 60%. The developed TS materials exhibited excellent cycling stability. After 12 consecutive adsorption–desorption runs, TS-G1-3CN-50more » shows an adsorption capacity of 136.0 mg g{sup −1}, retaining 98.5% of its original value.« less