Investigation of carbon dioxide adsorption by nitrogen-doped carbons synthesized from cubic MCM-48 mesoporous silica

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is a component of the flue gas of power plants and automobile emissions. This gas is recognized as a primary greenhouse gas and is a presumed agent of climate change [1,2]. The drawbacks of the traditional MEA liquid method that is used for CO₂ capture include the requirement for heavy equipment, and the toxic, flammable, corrosive, and volatile nature of the process [3]. Therefore, CO₂ capture by means of adsorption in porous materials has received increasing attention because this method has proven to be superior than the conventional technologies in terms of the advantages associated with it. Compared to traditional processes, the convenient reversibility of adsorption on porous solid materials based on physisorption for the capture and release of CO₂ makes this technique a greener and more cost-efficient method. To date, a variety of solid-based materials have been intensively studied for gas adsorption, especially CO₂ capture, such as metal organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, zeolites, activated carbons, functionalized graphene, carbon molecular sieves, chemically modified mesoporous materials, etc [4-13].