Synthesis and CO2 Capture Properties of Co- and Nd-Modified ZIF-8 Materials Loaded onto Electrospun Polyacrylonitrile Fibers

Zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF)-8 materials exhibiting zinc metal centers partially replaced by cobalt or neodymium were successfully synthesized via a convenient coprecipitation method. The resulting materials were structurally and microstructurally characterized by SEM, XRD, FT-IR, and TGA, among other techniques. Subsequently, ZIF-8 nanoparticles were integrated into polyacrylonitrile fibers (PAN) via the electrospinning technique, followed by a secondary growth step to increase the ZIF-8 loading on the fiber’s surface. Furthermore, the characterization and evaluation of the materials’ CO2 adsorption properties at low pressures revealed their volumetric CO2 uptake capacities. The samples containing ZIF-8 powders modified with Co cations exhibited the best CO2 capture performances of 26.48 and 8.08 cm3·g−1 (at STP) for the unsupported and PAN-anchored materials, respectively. The strategy of seeding followed by secondary growth to anchor ZIF-8 onto PAN fibers is proposed as a novel and practical approach for adsorbent processing.