Bimetallic Metal Organic Framework Composites for Carbondioxide Capture
Authors: Rao M Shashank , Nageswaran Gomathi 
Published: September 2023

Maintaining breathable air in human space flight missions is a challenge since there will be a gradual increase in the concentration of CO2 due to the exhalation of the spacecraft crew. Modern air revitalization technology for space missions uses temperature swing adsorption with zeolite-based materials as the adsorbent. However, the major drawbacks of zeolites are difficulty in regenerating used adsorbent and low selectivity towards CO2. Besides, frequent replacement of adsorption beds is necessary because of their low adsorption capacity towards CO2. This requires carrying a few spare beds in the spacecraft, which is not preferred because of the low-weight requirements for space missions. Hence, shifting to alternate materials with more selectivity and adsorption capacity toward CO2 becomes essential. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of crystalline materials found to be potential adsorbents for CO2 capture. Due to their ultra-high porosity, tunable pore characteristics, selective capture, and synergistic performance, they could replace the existing zeolite-based adsorbents. Further enhancement in the adsorption capacity could be achieved by introducing a secondary metal into the framework. This will bring heterogeneity in the structure, creation of defects, and open metal sites, thus enhancing the adsorption behavior. Incorporating a secondary metal into the framework and an additional filler material like activated carbon, making a BMOF composite, would lead to an exemplary improvement in the adsorption activity. The addition of filler material will lead to an increase in pore volume, which will enhance the adsorption capacity. In the current work, activated carbon was synthesized from sawdust via chemical activation method using KOH as the activating agent. It was carried out at low temperatures to boost the porous structure formation. Then the composite of Cu-Ni bimetallic MOF with activated carbon was prepared through one-pot solvothermal synthesis. The incorporation of activated carbon created an additional number of pores in the system leading to enhanced adsorption. N2 adsorption-desorption analysis was carried out to find the surface area. The results showed that the surface area of activated carbon and Cu-Ni-Activated carbon BMOF composite was found to be 576 m2/g and 1321 m2/g, respectively. The analysis also revealed the presence of microporous system in the material. Several characterization techniques, such as IR, SEM, XRD etc., were used to study morphology and characteristic features. The SEM shows that the incorporation of nickel and activated carbon have made a profound modification on the octahedral morphology of copper.

CO2 adsorption studies were carried out at 1 bar, 25°C. The BMOF composite adsorbent was found to adsorb ~4.52 mmol/g of CO2 whereas the as-synthesized activated carbon and ZSM-5 were found to adsorb ~2.71 mmol/g and ~1.68 mmol/g respectively. To understand the level of microporosity in the supermicropores range, CO2 adsorption analysis at 1 bar and 0°C was carried out since N2 adsorption at -196°C have limitations due to kinetic diffusion related problems at low temperatures. It revealed a micropore volume (<1.066nm) of 0.252 cm3 /g and a pore size range of 4-10 angstroms, which is ideal for selective CO2 adsorption. Also, the BMOF composite was found to adsorb ~8.27 mmol/g at 0°C, which showed that adsorption capacity increases with a decrease in temperature. Hence, the BMOF composites could serve as a promising adsorbent for selective CO2 capture.

Figure 1