Facile assembly of mesoporous silica nanoparticles with hierarchical pore structure for CO2 capture

In the work, we propose an efficient one-pot approach for synthesis of a new type of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs). That can be successfully realized by using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and N-3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]ethylenediamine (TSD) as the silica precursors and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the structure-directing agent through a facile assembly process. The as-synthesized MSNs possess a spherical morphology with about 230 nm, a relatively high surface area of 133 m²/g, and a hierarchical pore size distribution. When applied as the sorbents, the amine-functioned MSNs demonstrate the enhanced adsorption capacity for CO₂ capture (at 1 bar, 15 vol% CO₂, up to 80.5 mg/g at 75 °C), high selectivity, and good cycling durability, benefiting from the suitable modification of polyethyleneimine.