Amino-modified ZIF-8 for enhanced CO2 capture: Synthesis, characterization and performance evaluation

The urgent need for sustainable and innovative approaches to mitigate the increasing levels of atmospheric CO2 necessitates the development of efficient methods for its removal. In this study, we focus on the new, innovative approach for synthesis and functionalization of metal-organic framework (MOF) ZIF-8 in one step at room temperature to enhance its capacity for CO2 capture. Specifically, we investigated the impact of four amino-compounds, namely tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA), hexadecylamine (HDA), ethanolamine (ELA), and cyclopropylamine (CPA), on the chemical structure, size, surface area and porosity, and CO2 capturing of ZIF-8 powder. By varying concentrations of the amino-compounds, we examined their influence on the ZIF-8 properties. Our findings demonstrate that each amino-compound and its respective concentration exhibit distinct effects on the characteristics of ZIF-8. Notably, the ZIF-8 sample functionalized with the highest presented concentration of TEPA exhibited significant improvement in CO2 trapping efficiency, with a 33.3% enhancement. Moreover, least concentrated samples with added HDA or CPA demonstrated notable improvements with enhancements of 46.6% and 18.6%, respectively. These results highlight the potential of simple synthesis and functionalization techniques for MOFs in enhancing their CO2 capture capabilities. The findings from this study offer new opportunities for the development of strategies to mitigate CO2 emissions using MOFs.