Solids with integrated reactive amines for energy-efficient CO2 capture

Rising anthropogenic activities are escalating the need for advanced methods to reduce CO2 emissions. Solids with integrated reactive amines (SWIRA) are crucial for CO2 capture, but their inferior adsorption efficiency, high energy requirements for regeneration, and poor stability have remained major challenges to widespread adoption. This study reports stable SWIRA platforms, including mesoporous silica with integrated reactive amines (MSWIRA), cellulose foam with integrated reactive amines (CFWIRA), and porous carbon with integrated reactive amines (PCWIRA). The SWIRA samples achieved a remarkable CO2 capture capacity of up to 2.96 mmol/g at 0.15 bar CO2, corresponding to the flue-gas condition. The SWIRA sorbents required low regeneration energies (36-39 kJ/mol), indicating weak chemisorption that facilitates rapid cycling and reduces energy penalties. All SWIRA materials exhibited a remarkable stability over 50 consecutive thermal adsorption/desorption cycles and under accelerated moisture aging conditions. These SWIRA chemisorbents thus offer key advantages for CO2 capture from emission sources.