Effect of Graphite Source on Pore Structure and CO2 Adsorption of Graphene Aerogel

Safaei, Elahe; Talebi, Zahra; Ghafarinia, Vahid

Effect of Graphite Source on Pore Structure and CO2 Adsorption of Graphene Aerogel

Document Type : Original Research

Authors

E. Safaei ¹

Z. Talebi ¹

V. Ghafarinia ²

¹ Department of Textile Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

² Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

Research subject: Global warming is the most important worldwide problem. CO₂ is one of the greenhouse gasses and its emission to the atmosphere causes global warming to increase. Porous adsorbents are great candidates for CO₂ adsorption and graphene aerogels are porous nanostructures with very low density and hierarchical porosity which is suitable for CO₂ adsorption. The source of pristine graphite for graphene oxide synthesis as a precursor plays a vital role in graphene aerogel nanostructure.

Research approach: In the current study, graphene oxide by modified Hummers method was synthesized with three different graphite sources. Graphene aerogels were prepared with synthesized graphene oxides via hydrothermal and freeze-drying methods to investigate their effect on graphene aerogel nanostructure. Finally, the CO₂ adsorption of graphene aerogels was evaluated. The samples were characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, and BET analysis.

Main results: The results indicated that the source of graphite has a significant role in the process of oxidation of graphene oxide by the modified Hummers method. XRD results of graphene oxides showed successful oxidation of graphite. The normalizing FTIR peaks of graphene oxides showed different intensities of oxygenated functional group peaks. FE-SEM results of graphene aerogels showed that less oxidation of graphite powder caused agglomeration of graphite plates and thick walls were formed. The macropore size in the structure of obtained aerogels (GAB and GAE) was 2.28 and 3.84 µm respectively which affected the CO₂ adsorption. Larger pores led to easier mass transfer of CO₂ molecules and higher CO₂ adsorption was achieved. Moreover, the high meso and micro surface area (111 and 115 m²/g respectively) in GAE increased CO₂ adsorption up to 1.04 mmol/g compared to GAB (0.724 mmol/g).

Keywords

Graphite

Graphene oxide

Graphene Aerogel

Porous Structure

CO2 Adsorption

Subjects

membrane

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