In situ Formation of a Monodispersed Spherical Mesoporous Nanosilica-Torlon Hollow-Fiber Composite for Carbon Dioxide Capture

We describe a new template-free method for the in situ formation of a monodispersed spherical mesoporous nanosilica-Torlon hollow-fiber composite. A thin layer of Torlon hollow fiber that comprises silica nanoparticles was created by the in situ extrusion of a tetraethyl orthosilicate/N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone solution in a sheath layer and a Torlon polymer dope in a core support layer. This new method can be integrated easily into current hollow-fiber composite fabrication processes. The hollow-fiber composites were then functionalized with 3-aminopropyltrimethoxy silane (APS) and evaluated for their CO₂-capture performance. The resulting APS-functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles/Torlon hollow fibers exhibited a high CO₂ equilibrium capacity of 1.5 and 1.9 mmolg-1 at 35 and 60°C, respectively, which is significantly higher than values for fiber sorbents without nanoparticles reported previously