APTES-Based Silica Nanoparticles as a Potential Modifier for the Selective Sequestration of CO₂ Gas Molecules

In this work, we have described the characterization of hybrid silica nanoparticles of 50 nm size, showing outstanding size homogeneity, a large surface area, and remarkable CO₂ sorption/desorption capabilities. A wide battery of techniques was conducted ranging from spectroscopies such as: UV-Vis and IR, to microscopies (SEM, AFM) and CO₂ sorption/desorption isotherms, thus with the purpose of the full characterization of the material. The bare SiO₂ (50 nm) nanoparticles modified with 3-aminopropyl (triethoxysilane), APTES@SiO₂ (50 nm), show a remarkable CO₂ sequestration enhancement compared to the pristine material (0.57 vs. 0.80 mmol/g respectively at 50 °C). Furthermore, when comparing them to their 200 nm size counterparts (SiO₂ (200 nm) and APTES@SiO₂ (200 nm)), there is a marked CO₂ capture increment as a consequence of their significantly larger micropore volume (0.25 cm³/g). Additionally, ideal absorbed solution theory (IAST) was conducted to determine the CO₂/N₂ selectivity at 25 and 50 °C of the four materials of study, which turned out to be >70, being in the range of performance of the most efficient microporous materials reported to date, even surpassing those based on silica.