Hierarchical glucose-based carbons prepared by soft templating and sol–gel process for CO₂ capture

Abstract

Hierarchical micro-mesoporous carbons were synthesized through the combination of soft templating and sol–gel process, which employed Pluronic F127 as soft template and glucose as carbon source. The obtained carbons were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope and nitrogen adsorption/desorption for their morphology and textural properties, and then evaluated in the process of CO₂ capture. The high specific surface area, large total pore volume and narrow pore size distribution could be easily obtained and tuned by this method. Moreover, the synthesized carbons were physically activated by CO₂ to improve the CO₂ adsorption capacity and effects of the activation temperature and activation time were systematically investigated. The specific surface area and the total pore volume of sample which was obtained under the optimal condition increased from 1413 m²/g and 1.02 cm³/g to 2543 m²/g and 2.21 cm³/g after CO₂ activation. The sample also exhibited the value of CO₂ adsorption varying from 2.32 mmol/g up to 3.60 mmol/g at 25 °C and 1.6 bar.