Mesoporous zeolite-chitosan composite for enhanced capture and catalytic activity in chemical fixation of CO2.
Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases whose increasing concentration in the atmosphere can cause severe problems to both human health and wildlife. A simple ecofriendly procedure was developed to prepare zeolite-chitosan (ZY-CS) composite using solvent exchange followed by calcination for adsorption and chemical fixation of CO2. The as synthesized ZY-CS composite along with zeolite and chitosan were characterized by attenuated total reflection infrared, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms studies. The ZY-CS composite showed enhanced CO2 adsorption capacity compared with pure zeolite and chitosan. The composites also exhibited significant catalytic activity in the chemical fixation of CO2 into cyclic carbonates. This work is foreshadowing the prospect of ZY-CS composite in enhanced capture and catalytic activity in chemical fixation of CO2 for environmental applications.