Simple template-free synthesis of high surface area mesoporous ceria and its new use as a potential adsorbent for carbon dioxide capture

Abstract

The development of an efficient technique for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture from a variety of large stationary sources is in important global issue. If we are to achieve an energy-efficient and effectively higher CO2 capture process based on an adsorption approach, we need new adsorbent materials realistic enough to provide higher CO2 loading on a volumetric basis. For this reason we have focused on the practical use of high surface area mesoporous ceria as a new application in the field of CO2 capture. In this regard, we demonstrate the simple and inexpensive template-free synthesis of mesoporous ceria with a high surface area up to 200 m(2) g(-1), and characterize it as an effective CO2 adsorbent for the first time. The mesoporous ceria is prepared based on sol-gel chemistry, where the product is simply precipitated by the self-assembly of ceria nanoparticles within a short reaction period at room temperature under highly alkaline conditions with optimized chemical compositions. The results of CO2 adsorption-desorption measurement at 298 K show that the obtained ceria with an enhanced surface area exhibits a noticeably higher CO2 adsorption capacity per volume than commercially available non-porous ceria, activated carbon and zeolite 13X over a wide pressure range with robust stability as well as regenerability. This work enables us to prepare promising new materials for the CO2 capture process based on an easy-to-handle synthesis system, and this effective material will have a broad applicability to the efficient CO2 separation from variety of industrial emission sources. The features of the obtained mesoporous ceria are reported and discussed.

Keywords: CO(2) adsorption; Mesoporous material; Porous metal oxide; Sol–gel method; Template-free synthesis.