Solid-state dechlorination pathway for the synthesis of few layered functionalized carbon nanosheets and their greenhouse gas adsorptivity over CO and N2

A simple solid-state dechlorination route has been demonstrated to synthesize few layered functionalized carbon nanosheets (FCNS) utilizing hexachloroethane as carbon source and copper as reducing agent under the autogenic pressure at 300 °C. The obtained FCNS possesses the sheet thickness of 6-12 nm as analyzed by transmission electron microscopy. The particle nature of the FCNS provides the excess porosity having the surface area 836 m2/g. The equilibrium gas adsorption study of FCNS for greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4), toxic gas (CO) and light gas (N2) showed the maximum adsorption capacity for CO2 (2.95 mmol/g; at 288 K) with maximum capacity selectivity of 10.1 at 318 K. The very strong adsorbate-adsorbent interaction was observed in case of CO compare to other gases resulted in higher heat of adsorption for CO. The gas adsorption and FT-IR study showed that the interaction of CO with copper present in minute quantities in FCNS improves the CO adsorption due to π complexation. The FCNS obtained under present methodology showed the very high equilibrium selectivity for CO over N2 (197) followed by CH4 (61) and CO2 (7.3) at 288 K.