Photoinduced enhanced CO2 capture performance on carbon-doped boron nitride adsorbent

• Published in: Separation and purification technology Vol. 339; p. 126685
• Main Authors: Duan, Xiaoyu, Song, Guanqing, Song, Chi, Lu, Guanhong, Wang, Yan, Sun, Jing, Chen, Aiying, Xie, Xiaofeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 02.07.2024
• Subjects: Adsorption; Boron nitride; CO2 capture; Photoinduced; Regeneration; Boron nitride; Regeneration; CO2 capture; Adsorption; Photoinduced
• ISSN: 1383-5866; 1873-3794
• DOI: 10.1016/j.seppur.2024.126685

[Display omitted] •A novel way to photo-induced enhancement of CO2 adsorption capacity.•Carbon-doped h-BN adsorbents were synthesized by pyrolysis method.•The band gap of the BCN can be adjusted to improve their CO2 capture capacities.•The enhancement mechanism of CO2 adsorption capacity was proposed. The key issues in the CO2 capture industry are the high energy and cost consumption during the capture and regeneration process. Enhancing CO2 adsorption and rapid desorption through switches sunlight irradiation is a promising route. In this study, a series of carbon-doped boron nitride (BCN) adsorbents with different contents were synthesized. The BCN presented a growing CO2 adsorption capacity under light irradiation, implying that sunlight may become a key driving force for the low-cost CO2 capture. During the experiments, the best performing sample BCN(1:3) showed 32 % and 28 % increase in CO2 adsorption capacity after UV light irradiation at 0.15 and 1 bar CO2 pressure, respectively. To explain this interesting phenomenon, a series of tests and analyses had been conducted, such as EPR, Hall effect test and DFT computation. The results confirmed that the enhanced CO2 absorption characteristics can be attributed to the photoelectric effects of generating more free electrons, which enhanced Lewis alkalinity of BCN adsorbents and thus improved their CO2 adsorption capacities. This work, for the first time, utilizes the photoelectric effect to increase the efficient capture capacity of CO2, opening up a new path for the design and research of CO2 capture materials.