Design, Synthesis and Evaluation of Liquid-like Nanoparticle Organic Hybrid Materials (NOHMs) for Carbon Dioxide Capture

Given the rapid increase in atmospheric concentration of CO2, the development of efficient CO2 capture technologies is critical for the future of carbon-based energy. Currently, the most commonly employed approach to capture CO2 is amine scrubbing in which amine-based solvents react with gaseous CO2 to form carbamate. Although the amine-based solvents such as monoethanolamine (MEA) exhibit high CO2 capture capacity, their high volatility results in corrosive fumes and energy-intensive regeneration process. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop alternative CO2 capture media that can be efficient and environmentally sustainable. To achieve this goal, a new class of CO2 capture media named Nanoparticle Organic Hybrid Materials (NOHMs) has been formulated. A unit of NOHMs consists of a surface-functionalized nanoparticle as a core to which selected polymers are tethered to form a canopy. Such a configuration prevents loss of polymers and enables NOHMs to exhibit near zero vapor pressure. As the canopy is tethered to the core, it has been theorized that CO2 can be captured not only by the enthalpic effect via reactions with functional groups along the polymeric canopy but also by the entropic means via introduction of small gaseous molecules such as CO2 to reduce the free energy of the frustrated canopy. This study represents the first attempt to investigate CO2 capture using NOHMs. In this dissertation, NOHMs were designed, synthesized and evaluated for CO2 capture properties. Characterization of NOHMs was conducted by employing various spectroscopic tools, such a