Role of specific amine surface configurations for grafted surfaces: implications for nanostructured CO2 adsorbents

Amine-grafted porous materials that capture CO2 from emission streams have been considered to be potential alternatives to the more energy-intensive liquid amine systems currently employed. An underappreciated fact in the uptake mechanism of these materials is that under dry, anhydrous conditions each CO2 molecule must react with two adjacent amine groups to adsorb onto the surface, which makes the configuration of amine groups on the surface critically important. Using this chemical mechanism, we developed a semiempirical adsorption isotherm equation that allows straightforward computation of the adsorption isotherm from an arbitrary surface configuration of grafted amines for honeycomb, square, and triangular lattices. The model makes use of the fact that the distribution of amines with respect to the number of nearest neighbors, referred to as the z-histogram, along with the amine loading and equilibrium constant, uniquely determine the adsorption characteristics to a very good approximation. This model was used to predict the range of uptakes possible just through surface configuration, and it was used to fit experimental data in the literature to give a meaningful equilibrium constant and show how efficiently amines were utilized. We also demonstrate how the model can be utilized to design more efficient nanostructured adsorbents and polymer-based adsorbents. Recommendations for exploiting the role of surface configuration include the use of linear instead of branched polyamines, higher amine grafting densities, the use of flexible, less bulky, long, and rotationally free amine groups, and increased silanol densities.