Tailoring of Textural Properties of 3D Reduced Graphene Oxide Composite Monoliths by Using Highly Crosslinked Polymer Particles toward Improved CO2 Sorption

The main constraint on developing a full potential for CO2 adsorption of 3D composite monoliths made of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and polymer materials is the lack of control of their textural properties, along with the diffusional limitation to the CO2 adsorption due to the pronounced polymers' microporosity. In this work, the textural properties of the composites were altered by employing highly crosslinked polymer particles, synthesized by emulsion polymerization in aqueous media. For that aim, waterborne methyl methacrylate (MMA) particles were prepared, in which the crosslinking was induced by using different quantities of divinyl benzene (DVB). Afterward, these particles were combined with rGO platelets and subjected to the reduction-induced self assembly process. The resulting 3D monolithic porous materials certainly presented improved textural properties, in which the porosity and BET surface area were increased up to 100% with respect to noncrosslinked composites. The crosslinked density of MMA polymer particles was a key parameter controlling the porous properties of the composites. Consequently, higher CO2 uptake than that of neat GO structures and composites made of noncrosslinked MMA polymer particles was attained. This work demonstrates that a proper control of the microstructure of the polymer particles and their facile introduction within rGO self assembly 3D structures is a powerful tool to tailor the textural properties of the composites toward improved CO2 capture performance.