Cooperative Inorganic-Organic Binding Sites in Zeolite Adsorbents Enhance CO 2 Capture and Water Resistance
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Optimization of amine-based adsorbents for carbon capture technologies requires next-generation materials capable of handling a broad range of operating conditions with high amine efficiency. The current disadvantages of liquid amine absorbents motivate the design of porous solid analogues as alternatives. Here we present a bifunctional zeolite comprised of silanol defects and grafted amines that cooperatively bind CO 2 with 97% amine efficiency. We use a borosilicate beta zeolite as a parent material and generate a high density of silanol defects through facile post-synthesis demetalation, followed by amine functionalization. Spectroscopic techniques and density functional theory calculations confirm that silylpropylcarbamate species enhance CO 2 binding through an activated process with optimal performance at 100℃, which markedly reduces the temperature swing for regeneration without loss in performance after multiple cycles. Systematic analysis of carbon capture performance reveals that CO 2 sorption capacity doubles when shifting from high to low temperature, and is positively influenced by humidity.
Source: ChemRxiv
Language: English
Subfield: Filtration and Separation
Field: Chemical Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7213248841