A comprehensive review on the application of aerogels in CO2-adsorption: Materials and characterisation

Recently, greenhouse gases - especially CO2 - have been released into the atmosphere in ever-increasing quantities through activities such as industrial emission and combustion. Owing to their high absorption capacities, they appear to be implicated causatively in observed increases in surface temperature and global climate changes. Between porous solid sorbents, aerogels have recently been considered as promising adsorbents for CO2 capture due to their tunable surface chemistry and proper textural properties. Currently, a variety of different aerogels are being developed at laboratory scale, and some of them have been taken to pilot production. In order to explore the commercialisation-feasibility of aerogels as CO2 capture adsorbents, more research needs to be done on low-cost materials and production processes, with low or controlled sorption of water as well as a good thermal regeneration capacity. In this review paper, different aspects of scientific investigations on CO2-sorption applications of aerogels have been studied. The review contains seven main sections: preparation, characterisation, modification of aerogels, literature studies on CO2-sorption performances, kinetic and thermodynamic models on CO2 adsorption, important factors on CO2 capture and outlook for future perspectives.