HANDLECO2 · High-performance adsorbents based on robust bijels stabilized by cellulose nanocrystals for direct air capture of CO2
Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2023-06-15 → 2025-06-14
- EU contribution
- €222,728
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
High-performance adsorbents based on robust bijels stabilized by cellulose nanocrystals for direct air capture of CO2
The average concentration of atmospheric CO2 has shown a remarkable increase, ranging from 172 to 300 ppm before the latest industrial age to ~420 ppm at present day. Past decades have witnessed great concerns about the catastrophic consequences resulting from ever-rising CO2 emissions, e.g., global warming, ocean acidification, and many other environmental and climate change issues. Direct air capture (DAC) has established itself as a promising technology to lower the atmospheric CO2 concentration permanently, thus contributing to climate change mitigation. Considering the billions of tons of CO2 that need to be captured, high-performance chemisorbents from the most abundant natural polymer, i.e., cellulose, are of great significance for the practical application of such negative emission technology. The main objective is to construct high-performance cellulosic DAC chemisorbents based on robust bijels, which are an emerging class of soft solid materials with interconnected hierarchical pore networks and semipermeable interfacial layers. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) with surface-immobilized 10-undecenoyl groups will be synthesized and then modified by clickable poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs) via simple thiol-ene click chemistry. The surface chemistry of PILs-modified CNCs will further be tuned by a simple counterion exchange method. Next, the applicant will fabricate bijels of high stability by new methods to crosslink the CNCs with designed surface chemistry at the fluid-fluid interface. The robust bijels stabilized by CNCs will then be processed into aerobijels via simple freeze-drying. The numerous accessible amine groups on CNCs, in combination with the bicontinuous porous structure and semipermeable interfacial layers of the final aerobijels, will allow for high CO2 adsorption capacity and fast CO2 adsorption kinetics.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Direct air capture (DAC) has established itself as a promising technology to lower the atmospheric CO2 concentration permanently, thus contributing to climate change mitigation. Considering the billion tons of CO2 that need to be captured, high-performance chemisorbents from the most abundant natural polymer, i.e., cellulose, are of great significance for the practical application of such negative emission technology. The main objective of HANDLECO2 is to construct high-performance cellulosic DAC chemisorbents based on robust bijels, which is an emerging class of soft solid materials with interconnected hierarchical pore networks and semi-permeable interfacial layers. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) with surface-immobilized 10-undecenoyl groups will be synthesized and then modified by clickable poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs) via simple thiol-ene click chemistry. The surface chemistry of PILs-modified CNCs will further be tuned by simple counterion exchange method. Next, the applicant will fabricate bijels of high stability by new methods to crosslink the CNCs with designed surface chemistry at the fluid-fluid interface. The robust bijels stabilized by CNCs will then be processed into aerobijels via simple freezing-drying. The numerous accessible amine groups on CNCs in combination with the bicontinuous porous structure and semipermeable interfacial layers of the final aerobijels will allow for high CO2 adsorption capacity and fast CO2 adsorption kinetics. The conceptualization of HANDLECO2 is based on the two-way transfer of knowledge between the host and researcher, and research objectives will be achieved through this knowledge transfer. This fellowship will offer an invaluable opportunity to reach the applicant’s career goal of leading his own independent research group in Europe academia. Moreover, the success of HANDLECO2 will undoubtedly lead to multiple positive impacts that will strengthen European excellence and competitiveness.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- STOCKHOLMS UNIVERSITET · StockholmCoordinatorSweden
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/101106204
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e5141a0071&appId=PPGMS
Data: CORDIS, © European Union