Highly Stable Amine-modified Mesoporous Silica Materials for Efficient CO2 Capture

A highly efficient and stable solid adsorbent invoking a direct incorporation of tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) onto the as-synthesized mesocelullar silica foam (MSF) has been developed for CO2 capture. Unlike most amine-functionalized silicas, which typically exhibit CO2 adsorption capacities less than 2.0 mmol/g, such organic template occluded mesoporous silica-amine composites exhibited remarkably high CO2 uptake as high as 4.5 mmol/g at 348 K and 1 atm. Moreover, notable increases in CO2 adsorption capacities of the composite materials were observed when in the presence of humidity. Durability test performed by cyclic adsorption–desorption revealed that such adsorbents also possess excellent stability, even though a slight decrease in adsorption capacity over time was observed.