Highly effective ammonia removal in a series of Brønsted acidic porous polymers: Investigation of chemical and structural variations

Autor: Valentina Crocellà, Jeffrey A. Reimer, Silvia Bordiga, Gokhan Barin, Gregory W. Peterson, Aditya Nandy, Jun Xu, Kristen A. Colwell, Jeffrey R. Long
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2017
Předmět:
Zdroj: Barin, G; Peterson, GW; Crocellà, V; Xu, J; Colwell, KA; Nandy, A; et al.(2017). Highly effective ammonia removal in a series of Brønsted acidic porous polymers: Investigation of chemical and structural variations. Chemical Science, 8(6), 4399-4409. doi: 10.1039/c6sc05079d. UC Berkeley: Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4189h531
Chemical science, vol 8, iss 6
DOI: 10.1039/c6sc05079d.
Popis: © 2017 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Although a widely used and important industrial gas, ammonia (NH3) is also highly toxic and presents a substantial health and environmental hazard. The development of new materials for the effective capture and removal of ammonia is thus of significant interest. The capture of ammonia at ppm-level concentrations relies on strong interactions between the adsorbent and the gas, as demonstrated in a number of zeolites and metal-organic frameworks with Lewis acidic open metal sites. However, these adsorbents typically exhibit diminished capacity for ammonia in the presence of moisture due to competitive adsorption of water and/or reduced structural stability. In an effort to overcome these challenges, we are investigating the performance of porous polymers functionalized with Brønsted acidic groups, which should possess inherent structural stability and enhanced reactivity towards ammonia in the presence of moisture. Herein, we report the syntheses of six different Brønsted acidic porous polymers exhibiting -NH3Cl, -CO2H, -SO3H, and -PO3H2groups and featuring two different network structures with respect to interpenetration. We further report the low- and high-pressure NH3uptake in these materials, as determined under dry and humid conditions using gas adsorption and breakthrough measurements. Under dry conditions, it is possible to achieve NH3capacities as high as 2 mmol g-1at 0.05 mbar (50 ppm) equilibrium pressure, while breakthrough saturation capacities of greater than 7 mmol g-1are attainable under humid conditions. Chemical and structural variations deduced from these measurements also revealed an important interplay between acidic group spatial arrangement and NH3uptake, in particular that interpenetration can promote strong adsorption even for weaker Brønsted acidic functionalities. In situ infrared spectroscopy provided further insights into the mechanism of NH3adsorption, revealing a proton transfer between ammonia and acidic sites as well as strong hydrogen bonding interactions in the case of the weaker carboxylic acid-functionalized polymer. These findings highlight that an increase of acidity or porosity does not necessarily correspond directly to increased NH3capacity and advocate for the development of more fine-tuned design principles for efficient NH3capture under a range of concentrations and conditions.
Databáze: OpenAIRE