Post-combustion CO2 capture is a promising approach for complementing other strategies to mitigate climate change. Liquid absorption is currently used to capture CO2 from post-combustion flue gases. However, the high energy cost required to regenerate the liquid absorbents is a major drawback for this process. As a result, solid sorbents have been investigated extensively in recent years as alternative media to capture CO2 from flue gases. For example, metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are nanoporous materials that have high surface areas, large pore volumes, and flexible designs. A large number of MOFs, however, suffer from 1) low CO2 adsorption capacity at low pressure, which is the typical condition for flue gases, 2) degradation upon exposure to water present in flue gases, and 3) low selectivity of CO2 when present in a mixture of gases. Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks (ZIFs) are heavily investigated MOFs for CO2 sorption applications because they have better selectivity for CO2 compared to other MOFs and are resistant to degradation in water due to their hydrophobic nature. However, ZIFs (e.g., ZIF-8) investigated for CO2 sorption applications are typically produced using toxic solvents and their CO2 sorption capacity is drastically lower than other types of MOFs. Post-synthesis modifications with amine functional groups have been known to increase CO2 sorption capacity and selectivity within nanoporous materials. For ZIFs, previous research showed that sufficient loading with linear polyethyleneimine increased their CO2 sorption capacity. Therefore, the objectives of this research were to a) investigate the CO2 sorption capacity of ZIF-8 synthesized by solvothermal methods that use more eco-friendly solvents (e.g., methanol and water) and b) introduce post-synthetic modifications to ZIF-8 using branched polyethyleneimine (bPEI) to enhance its sorption capacity. A custom quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) system was assembled and used to measure the CO2 sorption capacity of unmodified and bPEI-modified ZIF-8 sorbent. The tests were conducted at 0.3 - 1 bar. The results showed that the unmodified ZIF-8 synthesized in methanol (ZIF-8-MeOH) had comparable crystal structure, thermal stability, surface area, and chemical properties to that of literature (Ta et.al 2018). ZIF-8-MeOH had a surface area of 1300 m2/g and a CO2 sorption capacity of 0.85 mmol CO2/g ZIF-8 @ 1 bar. This surface area and sorption capacity are comparable to those of ZIF-8 made in dimethylformamide (DMF). Therefore, ZIF-8-MeOH proved to be a worthy candidate MOF for replacing the ZIF-8 made in DMF for CO2 capture research. Water-based ZIF-8 was also synthesized in this study; however, its CO2 sorption capacity was not tested because it exhibited a significantly lower surface area (732 m2/g) compared to that of ZIF-8-MeOH. Modification of the ZIF-8-MeOH with bPEI resulted in a decrease in its CO2 sorption capacity. This undesired outcome is likely a result of insufficient bPEI load (mass attached), on ZIF-8-MeOH (~ 10% w/w) combined with the surface area lost (~ 770 m2/g) due to bPEI blocking some of the ZIF-8-MeOH pores. Therefore, the bPEI load attained in this study was not enough to compensate for the loss of surface area of the modified ZIF-8 and thus, the CO2 sorption capacity decreased. Future investigations should enhance the post-synthetic modification by increasing the loading of amine functional groups onto the eco-friendlier ZIF-8-MeOH used in this study.

Polymeric membranes exhibit a trade-off between permeability and selectivity in gas separations which limits their viability as an economically feasible post-combustion carbon capture technology. One approach to improve the separation properties of polymeric membranes is the inclusion of particulate materials into the polymer matrix to create what are known as mixed matrix membranes (MMMs). By combining the polymer and particulate phases, beneficial properties of both can be seen in the resulting composite material. One of the most notable challenges in producing mixed matrix membranes is in the formation of performance-hindering defects at the polymer-filler interface. Non-selective voids or polymer chain rigidification are but two non-desirable effects which can be observed. The material selection and synthesis route are key to minimising these defects. Thin membranes are also highly desirable to achieve greater gas fluxes and improved economical separation processes. Hence smaller nano-sized particles are of particular interest to minimise the disruption to the polymer matrix. This is a challenge due to the tendency of some small particles to form agglomerations. This work involved introducing novel nanoscale filler particles into PEBAX MH1657, a commercially available block-copolymer consisting of poly(ethylene oxide) and nylon 6 chains. Poly(ether-b-amide) materials possess an inherently high selectivity for the CO2/N2 separation due to polar groups in the PEO chain but suffer from low permeabilities. Mixed matrix membranes were fabricated with PEBAX MH1657 primarily using two filler particles, nanoscale ZIF-8 and novel nanoscale MCM-41 hollow spheres. This work primarily investigated the effects of the filler loading on both the morphology and gas transport properties of the composite materials. The internal structure of the membranes was examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the gas transport properties determined using a bespoke time-lag gas permeation apparatus. ZIF-8 is a zeolitic imidazolate framework which possesses small pore windows that may favour CO2 transport over that of N2. ZIF-8-PEBAX membranes were successfully synthesised up to 7wt.%. It was found that for filler loadings below 5wt.%, the ZIF-8 was well dispersed within the polymer phase. At these loadings modest increases in the CO2 permeability coeffcient of 0-20% compared to neat PEBAX were observed. Above this 5wt.% loading large increases in both CO2, N2 and He permeability coeffcients coincided with the presence of large micron size clusters formed of hundreds of filler ZIF-8 particles. The increases in permeability were attributed to voids observed within the clusters. MCM-41 is a metal organic framework that has seen notable interest in the field of carbon capture, due to its tunable pore size and ease of functionalisation. Two types of novel MCM-41 hollow sphere (MCM-41-HS) of varying pore size were incorporated into PEBAX and successfully used to fabricate MMMs up to 10wt.%. SEM showed the MCM-41 generally interacted well with the polymer with no signs of voids and was generally well dispersed. However, some samples of intermediate loading in both cases showed highly asymmetric distribution of nanoparticles and high particle density regions near one external face of the membrane which also showed the highest CO2 permeability coeffcients. It is suspected that these high permeabilities are due to the close proximity of nanoparticles permitting these regions to act in a similar way to percolating networks. It was determined that there was no observable effect of the varying pore size which was expected given the transport in the pores should be governed by Knudsen diffusion.

This master’s thesis was conducted at the Department of Nanotechnology and Functional Materials at Ångström Laboratory as part of an on-going project to develop hybrid nanocomposites from Cladophora cellulose and a sub-type of metal-organic frameworks; zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs). By utilizing a state-of-the-art interfacial synthesis approach, in-situ growth of ZIF particles on the cellulose could be achieved. TEMPO-mediated oxidation was diligently used to achieve cellulose nanofibers with carboxylate groups on their surfaces. These were ion-exchanged to promote growth of ZIF particles in a nanocellulose solution and lastly, metal ions and organic linkers which the ZIFs are composed of were added to the surface functionalized and ion-exchanged nanocellulose solution to promote ZIF growth. By vacuum filtration, mechanical pressing and furnace drying; freestanding nanopapers were obtained. A core-shell morphology between the nanocellulose and ZIF crystals was desired and by adjusting the metal ion concentration, a change in morphologies was expected. The nanocomposites were investigated with several relevant analytical tools to confirm presence, attachment and in-situ growth of ZIF crystal particles upon the surface of the fine nanocellulose fibers. Both the CNF@ZIF-67 and CNF@ZIF-8 nanocomposites were successfully prepared as nanopapers with superior surface areas and thermal properties compared to pure TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanopapers. The CNF@ZIFs showcased hierarchical porosities, stemming from the micro- and mesoporous ZIFs and nanocellulose, respectively. Also, it was demonstrated that CNF@ZIF-8 selectively adsorbed CO2 over N2. Partial formation of core-shell structure could be obtained, although a relationship between increased metal ions and ZIF particle morphology could not wholly be observed.