Polyaniline–magnetite nanocapsules based nanocomposite for carbon dioxide adsorption

The most important environmental issue is to reduce green house gases in order to prevent the climate changes, where carbon dioxide (CO2) is the major contributor. In this regards, CO2 capture and utilization using solid adsorbents, in large scales, attain greater attention among the scientific community. Present study is focused on the development of polyaniline/magnetite nanocapsules (PANI/MNCs) nanocomposite for CO2 capture at high pressures. The nanocomposite is synthesized and characterized by appropriate methods and the CO2 adsorption capacity is measured using high-pressure Seiverts’ apparatus. PANI/MNCs nanocomposite shows fast sorption kinetics (∼42 mmol/g within 90 min at 28 °C) along with a high sorption capacity (47.5 mmol/g with 12 bar pressure at 28 °C) as a consequence of physical and chemical interaction with CO2 molecules. The isoteric heats of adsorption of CO2–PANI/MNCs system infer that high adsorption capacity is mainly leaded by physorption. The nanocomposite exhibits good cyclic regenerability and thermal stability.

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► A novel polyaniline–magnetite nanocapsule is synthesized and characterised.
► The nanocomposite captures higher amount of CO2 than the conventional absorbents.
► The absorbent shows fast adsorption kinetics and good regenerability.
► The thermodynamic parameters of adsorption are evaluated.
► The isosteric heats of adsorption displays the major contribution of physisorption.