Self-sacrificing template synthesis of nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbons as an effective adsorbent for CO2 capture

The current greenhouse effect issue and climate change crisis has urged the advancement of highly efficient and cost-effective CO2 adsorbents for environmental remediation. We present a sustainable and convenient self-sacrificed templating method for the preparation of nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbons (GNCK-X-Y). Glucose serves as a carbon source for the GNCK-X-Y, and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is used as both a self-sacrificing template and nitrogen doping agent during pyrolysis. The use of these precursors will allow for substantial cost reductions, making the designed materials considerably attractive from an industrial perspective. The adsorbents all demonstrated large specific surface areas and well-developed porosities. Furthermore, the influences of the carbonization temperature and activator on CO2 capture performance were also systematically investigated. The samples prepared under the optimum conditions exhibit excellent CO2 uptake capacities of up to 3.65 and 6.12 mmol/g at 25 celcius and 0 celcius (1 bar), respectively. The outstanding CO2 capacity of the material can be attributed to the cooperative effect produced by its surface structure and chemical composition. Additionally, this adsorbent also displays moderate adsorption heat, high CO2/N-2 selectivity, excellent reusability and a certain adsorption performance at higher temperatures. These characteristics give the as-synthesized materials broad practical application prospects for CO2 capture.