Effect of surface functionalities on gas adsorption in microporous carbons: a grand canonical Monte Carlo study

In an attempt to offer a more realistic picture of adsorption in highly heterogeneous porous systems, such as oxygen functionalized porous carbons, we consider a series of carbon surfaces baring different amounts of oxygen functionalities (hydroxyl and epoxy). These surfaces are used to construct “oxidized” slit pores of varying width and functionality. With the aid of such inhomogeneous structures we study the interaction of Ar (87 K) inside “functionalized” pores and report grand canonical Monte Carlo adsorption simulations results. Based on our simulation data, we discuss the role of chemical heterogeneity on adsorbed/gas phase equilibrium properties such as density, heat of adsorption, and molecular packing within the pores. Comparisons are made with the case of the oxygen–free (completely homogeneous) slit pore models and conclusions on the suitability of Ar based pore size distributions for functionalized porous carbons are drawn.     

Energetics of methane adsorption on microporous activated carbons

The influence of microporous carbon surface oxidation on energetics of methane adsorption at 308 K is discussed. Obtained adsorption heats and integral molar entropies of the adsorbate show that microporous carbon surface oxidation changes the methane adsorption process. This is probably resulted by the existence of an endothermic effect during adsorption in oxidized carbon micropores.     

A priori calculation of adsorption equilibria on microporous active carbons

A method is proposed for a priori calculating adsorption isotherms based on the combination of the molecular dynamics method and Dubinin-Radushkevich and Tolmachev-Aranovich equations. The isotherms of adsorption of individual gases and vapors, as well as components of gaseous and vaporous mixtures and liquid solutions on microporous active carbons, are calculated using this method.     

Influence of analysis conditions on low pressure adsorption measurements and its consequences in characterization of energetic and structural heterogeneity of microporous carbons

Nitrogen adsorption isotherms on nonporous and microporous carbons were thoroughly studied at low relative pressures. For nonporous carbons low pressure measurements seem to be unaffected by analysis conditions. However, these measurements on microporous solids may be affected by analysis conditions at relative pressures below 10^–4. It was shown that selection of proper equilibration time is crucial for correct measurements of equilibrium pressures during adsorption on microporous carbons. The isotherm shift induced by insufficient equilibration of the system may affect the surface heterogeneity and microporosity analysis. A comparison of the adsorption energy and pore volume distribution functions calculated from low pressure nitrogen adsorption isotherms measured at different equilibration times on a microporous carbon shows that this effect is smaller than it was expected.     

Comparative study of Cr(III) adsorption by carbon nanotubes and active carbons

The adsorption of trivalent chromium ions from aqueous solutions on the surface of carbon materials, namely, multiwall carbon nanotubes (NTs) and two samples of active carbon, is studied depending on pH and adsorbate concentration in the system. Isotherms of Cr(III) adsorption by the aforementioned materials are obtained. It is shown that chromium ions are predominantly bound by surface carboxyl groups. The adsorption of chromium ions reduces the electrokinetic potential of NTs and, at chromium concentrations C _Cr(III) > 10^–5 M, leads to the reversal of the surface charge. The adsorption value decreases in the series NT > Merck carbon > Norit carbon, in contrast to an increase in the adsorbate affinity to the adsorbent in this series, as determined from the slope of the initial section of the Langmuir isotherms. Small amounts of chromium ions sorbed at low concentrations in solution (C _Cr(III) ≤ 10^–5 M) are comparable with the concentration of hydrogen ions displaced from the surface, thus making it possible to suppose the existence of an ionexchange adsorption mechanism. As the concentration of Cr(III) increases, the equivalent displacement of H⁺ is violated, thereby indicating the development of other adsorption mechanisms (complexation).     

The application of the Dubinin-Astakhov equation to the characterization of microporous carbons

A study is made of the adsorption of carbon dioxide at 195 K on a series of microporous carbons. The adsorption data are analysed using the Dubinin-Astakhov equation. It is found that the adsorption isotherms obey the Dubinin-Astakhov equation over the pressure range studied.The characteristic energy of adsorption calculated from the slope of the Dubinin-Astakhov plot is shown to be in correlation with the mean value of the adsorption potential. The microporosity of carbons is interpreted in terms of the characteristic parameters of the adsorption pontential distribution, determined by means of the Dubinin-Astakhov equation. It is found good agreement between these parameters and the micropore size distribution.     

一个微孔钴基金属有机骨架的合成及其选择性气体吸附

利用硝酸钴与配体5,5''-di (1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)-(1,1''-biphenyl)-2,2''-dicarboxylic acid (H₂DTBDA)进行溶剂热反应,制备了一个结构新颖的金属有机骨架{[Co (DTBDA)]₂·DMF·MeOH}_n (FJI-H37)。FJI-H37不仅具有适合气体分子吸附的0.69 nm的微孔,还具有良好的热稳定性及有机溶剂容忍性。气体吸附测试表明FJI-H37不仅能从C₂H₂/CO₂(体积比50∶50)混合气中选择性吸附C₂H₂,还可以从CO₂/N₂(体积比15∶85)和CO₂/CH₄(体积比50∶50)混合气中选择性捕获CO₂;固定床突破实验进一步证实了其高效的气体分离能力。     

一个微孔钴基金属有机骨架的合成及其选择性气体吸附

利用硝酸钴与配体5，5''-di (1H-1，2，4-triazol-1-yl)-(1，1''-biphenyl)-2，2''-dicarboxylic acid (H₂DTBDA)进行溶剂热反应，制备了一个结构新颖的金属有机骨架{[Co (DTBDA)]₂·DMF·MeOH}_n (FJI-H37)。FJI-H37不仅具有适合气体分子吸附的0.69 nm的微孔，还具有良好的热稳定性及有机溶剂容忍性。气体吸附测试表明FJI-H37不仅能从C₂H₂/CO₂(体积比50∶50)混合气中选择性吸附C₂H₂，还可以从CO₂/N₂(体积比15∶85)和CO₂/CH₄(体积比50∶50)混合气中选择性捕获CO₂；固定床突破实验进一步证实了其高效的气体分离能力。     

一个微孔钴基金属有机骨架的合成及其选择性气体吸附

利用硝酸钴与配体5,5''-di(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)-(1,1''-biphenyl)-2,2''-dicarboxylic acid (H₂DTBDA)进行溶剂热反应,制备了一个结构新颖的金属有机骨架{[Co(DTBDA)]₂·DMF·MeOH}_n (FJI-H37)。FJI-H37不仅具有适合气体分子吸附的0.69 nm的微孔,还具有良好的热稳定性及有机溶剂容忍性。气体吸附测试表明FJI-H37不仅能从C₂H₂/CO₂(体积比50:50)混合气中选择性吸附C₂H₂,还可以从CO₂/N₂(体积比15:85)和CO₂/CH₄(体积比50:50)混合气中选择性捕获CO₂;固定床突破实验进一步证实了其高效的气体分离能力。     

Analysis of adsorption isosteres of gas and vapor on microporous adsorbents

The adsorption isosteres and isotherms of methane on the microporous carbon adsorbent PAU-10 were calculated using the Dubinin—Radushkevich equation taking into account nonideality of the gas phase. The conditions under which the adsorption isosteres are linear were outlined. The calculated and experimentally found adsorption isosteres were compared for the methane—PAU-10 system. The slope of the isosteres remains unchanged on going to the region of strong nonideality of the gas phase. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 3, pp. 382–385, March, 2007.     

Determination of the micropore volume distribution function of activated carbons by gas adsorption

A new method for the determination of the micropore volume distribution function of activated carbons is presented. It is based on the treatment of pure gas adsorption isotherms by a theoretical model derived from the Hill-de Boer theory. Adsorption data (isotherms and heat curves) for carbon dioxide, ethane and ethylene on activated carbon (F30/470 CHEMVIRON CARBON) have been provided by a thermobalance coupled to a calorimeter (TG-DSC 111 SETARAM) at different temperatures (233, 273, 303 and 323 K) for pressures up to 100 kPa. Adsorption isotherms of carbon dioxide and ethane at 303 and 323 K have been used for the determination of the micropore volume distribution function of the activated carbon of interest. The knowledge of its structure has then allowed the simulation of adsorption isotherms and heats for the same adsorbates at the same temperatures as those experimentally studied. Similar calculations have been conducted for ethylene. Whatever the adsorbate (carbon dioxide and ethane used for the determination of the micropore volume distribution function or ethylene), the mean deviation between experimental and calculated isotherms does not exceed 4% at quasicritical and supercritical temperatures (303 and 323 K). In the same temperature conditions, discrepancies between calculation and experiment reach about 10% for adsorption heats. For both isotherms and heats, large discrepancies appear at low temperature (233 and 273 K). This method allows the determination of the micropore volume distribution function of activated carbons. The validity of the results is insured using several isotherms of several adsorbates and taking into account the calorimetric effect of the phenomenon. That is the reason why this method can also be seen as a new possible model for pure gas adsorption data prediction. This paper also presents a brief summary of the state of the art in this field.     

Gas adsorption in active carbons and the slit-pore model 1: Pure gas adsorption

We describe procedures based on the polydisperse independent ideal slit-pore model, Monte Carlo simulation and density functional theory (a 'slab-DFT') for predicting gas adsorption and adsorption heats in active carbons. A novel feature of this work is the calibration of gas-surface interactions to a high surface area carbon, rather than to a low surface area carbon as in all previous work. Our models are used to predict the adsorption of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen, and hydrogen up to 50 bar in several active carbons at a range of near-ambient temperatures based on an analysis of a single 293 K carbon dioxide adsorption isotherm. The results demonstrate that these models are useful for relatively simple gases at near-critical or supercritical temperatures.     

Tetra-armed conjugated microporous polymers for gas adsorption and photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Two novel tetra-armed conjugated microporous polymers with different geometries have been designed and synthesized via Suzuki-Miyaura cross coupling polycondensation. Both polymers are stable in various organic solvents tested and are thermally stable. The pyrene-containing polymer of PrPy with the rigid pyrene unit shows a higher Brunauer-Emmet-Teller specific surface area of 1219 m~2 g~(-1) than the tetraphenylethylene-containing polymer of PrTPE(770 m~2 g~(-1)), which leads to a high CO_2 uptake ability of 3.89 mmol g~(-1) at 1.13 bar/273 K and a H_2 uptake ability of 1.69 wt% at 1.13 bar/77 K. The photocatalytic hydrogen production experiments revealed that PrPy also shows a better photocatalytic performance than PrTPE due to the higher conjugation degree and planar structure, the broader UV-visible(UV-Vis) absorption, the lower photoluminescence lifetime, and the higher specific surface area.     

Temperature-triggered gate opening for gas adsorption in microporous manganese formate

Microporous manganese formate shows temperature-triggered gate opening for nitrogen and argon adsorption, which is not due to a structural change of the framework but due to dynamic opening of the pore aperture and/or sufficient kinetic energy of the adsorbates to overcome a diffusion barrier above a critical temperature.     

Surface functionalization of mesoporous and microporous activated carbons by immobilization of diamine

The introduction of amino groups on HNO3-treated microporous (AC(micro)-At) and mesoporous (AC(meso)-At) activated carbon, which was followed by thionyl chloride (SOCl2) treatment, by immobilization of diamine compounds was investigated in terms of change in pore characteristics. The immobilization was improved by treatment with SOCl2. The BET surface area of AC(micro)-At largely decreased by immobilization of ethylenediamine (EDA) and hexamethylenediamine (HMDA). Decreases in BET surface area and pore volume of AC(meso)-At by immobilization of EDA and HMDA were scarcely observed. These results suggest that amino groups introduced to mesoporous activated carbon are effective as functional groups for additional reactions.     

Comparative study on the gas-phase adsorption of hexane over zeolites by calorimetry and inverse gas chromatography

The scope of this work is to carry out a systematic comparison of inverse gas chromatography (IGC) and microcalorimetry as tools for the study of the gas-phase adsorption of organic vapours (using hexane as model compound) on zeolitic materials (using different Mn, Co and Fe-exchanged NaX and CaA zeolites). Adsorption isotherms were recorded using both techniques in the temperature range of 150-250 degrees C, being observed that the shape of the isotherms obtained with the dynamic (IGC) and static (microcalorimetry) techniques was surprisingly similar in the pressure range at which both techniques are applicable (low surface coverages). Concerning to the measurement of the strength of the adsorption, calorimetric data provide two parameters related to the adsorption enthalpy: the initial differential heat and the isosteric adsorption enthalpy. A great coincidence was found between the last one and the adsorption enthalpy determined by IGC (4-20% of difference, depending on the studied material). The behaviour of the initial differential heat depends strongly on the studied material, being in some cases closely related to the other two parameters and temperature-independent (in the case on Mn-exchanged zeolites), whereas for the Co-CaA and Fe-CaA zeolites, it is temperature-dependent, being not correlated with the other parameters in this case. The main conclusion of this work is that IGC is an attractive alternative to the static microcalorimetric data for obtaining information on the adsorption of organic compounds on microporous materials.     

Pore size distribution and capacitance in microporous carbons

Modelling shows that the pore size distribution of microporous carbons determined by NLDFT only hides relatively small variations of the surface-related capacitance C/S between 0.7 and 1.3 nm. This suggests again that C/S in TEABF(4)-AN is 0.09 ± 0.01 F m(-2) for our typical carbons, including carbide-based samples.