Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Materials for CO2 Capture and Utilization

In this PhD thesis, different types of hybrid organic-inorganic materials were studied as solid sorbents for the carbon dioxide capture, in order to give additional hints to the comprehension of phenomena playing an important role in CO2 adsorption processes. In the first part, hybrid organic-inorganic SBA-15 silicas functionalized with variable amount of amino groups were studied aiming to evaluate the influence of the different basic species on CO2 capture ability. Afterwards, it was decided to study the influence of siliceous support properties on the adsorption process. For this purpose, silica-based materials with different structure, morphology and particle size were selected and tested in the same experimental conditions, aiming to understand the effect of their physico-chemical properties on the CO2 adsorption. On one side MCM-41 silica-based materials with different particle diameter, passing from micrometric to nanometric scale, were considered, in order to study the size effect of the support on the adsorption properties. Furthermore, the effect of the porosity was evaluated by using as adsorbent a non-porous material (Stöber silica) and comparing the obtained results with those of MCM-41-based materials. Finally, the possible use of silica-based materials as catalyst for the carbon dioxide transformation into more useful products was studied. In particular, heterogeneous Cu-based catalyst supported on SiO2 have been studied as for the promotion of hydrogenation reaction of CO2 to formic acid.