Nitrogen-containing nanoporous carbons synthesized from direct carbonization of non-porous coordination polymers for CO2 capture

Nitrogen-containing nanoporous carbons are successfully synthesized by direct carbonization of nitrogen-rich non-porous coordination polymers, zinc l-aspartic acid (Zn(C4H7NO4)(H2O)(2)& BULL;H2O), as a template. Nitrogen-doped nanoporous carbon was prepared by using a low-cost and easy-to-synthesize biological coordination polymer (small biomolecular amino acid as a ligand) as a soft template without adding other carbon and nitrogen sources. The surface area and pore size distribution of the resulting carbon materials are studied based on the different carbonization temperatures. Initially, the effect of acidity on the synthesis of zinc l-aspartic acid was studied. Additionally, the effect of different carbonization temperatures on the characterizations and pore properties of nitrogen-containing nanoporous carbons was compared to the potential to absorb CO2. These carbons have a relatively high surface area of 1397.84 m(2)/g, a high pore volume of 0.55 cm(3)/g, and micro-mesopores structures with pore diameters centered at 1.0 and 6.9 nm. Furthermore, the adsorption performance of CO2 gas shows that the sample with a specific surface area of 884.32 m(2)/g, the nitrogen content of 1.50% has a relatively good adsorption property for CO2 with an adsorption capacity of 75.57 cm(3)/g at 273 K. This work demonstrated that the direct carbonization engineering strategy provides a promising way to adsorb CO2.