A team of researchers from Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, the University of Ostrava, the POLYX beamline of SOLARIS, and collaborating institutions has published a study on new composite materials designed for carbon dioxide capture. The work focuses on UiO-66-NH2 crystals grown inside nitrogen-modified hierarchically porous carbon monoliths.
Carbon dioxide capture is one of the key challenges in the development of cleaner and more sustainable technologies. Porous materials are highly promising in this field because they can selectively adsorb CO₂ on their internal surfaces. In the present study, the researchers combined two complementary types of porous materials: a mechanically convenient carbon monolith with hierarchical porosity and a zirconium-based metal–organic framework, UiO-66-NH2, known for its stability and CO2 -affinity.
The carbon monoliths were modified using different nitrogen-functionalization strategies, which introduced a high concentration of amine and nitrogen-containing surface groups. Owing to these modifications, the resulting materials exhibited excellent CO2 uptake, particularly in the low-pressure region, where specific interactions between CO2 molecules and basic nitrogen sites play an important role.
Read more on the SOLARIS website
Image: Schematic illustration of UiO-66-NH2 crystals grown inside a hierarchically porous carbon monolith for CO2 capture, together with synchrotron-based μXRF mapping of zirconium distribution.