CO2 adsorption in porous carbon materials has attracted great interests for alleviating emission of post-combustion CO2. In this work, a novel nitrogen-doped porous carbon material was fabricated by carbonizing the precursor of melamine-resorcinol-formaldehyde resin/graphene oxide (MR/GO) composites with KOH as the activation agent. Detailed characterization results revealed that the fabricated MR(0.25)/GO-500 porous carbon (0.25 represented the amount of GO added in wt.% and 500 denoted activation temperature in °C) had well-defined pore size distribution, high specific surface area (1264 m2·g−1) and high nitrogen content (6.92 wt.%), which was mainly composed of the pyridinic-N and pyrrolic-N species. Batch adsorption experiments demonstrated that the fabricated MR(0.25)/GO-500 porous carbon delivered excellent CO2 adsorption ability of 5.21 mmol·g−1 at 298.15 K and 500 kPa, and such porous carbon also exhibited fast adsorption kinetics, high selectivity of CO2/N2 and good recyclability. With the inherent microstructure features of high surface area and abundant N adsorption sites species, the MR/GO-derived porous carbon materials offer a potentially promising adsorbent for practical CO2 capture.

Efficiently separating oil and water has become a globally challenging problem. Herein, we report a novel graft-polymerization method to synthesize poly­(sulfobetaine methacrylate)@Cu­(OH)2 nanoneedle array (PSBMA@CHNNA)-coated copper meshes with superwetting and antifouling abilities to efficiently separate oil and water. The zwitterionic PSBMA@CHNNA-coated membranes were synthesized by the combination of chemical oxidation and a surface-initiated free-radical polymerization method. The as-synthesized mesh membranes showed a highly efficient separation capability toward different oil/water mixtures, oilfield wastewater, and oilfield produced fluids with a chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the filtrated water less than 30 ppm. The water fluxes of the as-synthesized meshes were as high as about 80 kL·h–1·m–2 for different oil/water mixtures and more than 10 kL·h–1·m–2 for the oil/water emulsion of oilfield wastewater. Moreover, the as-synthesized membranes exhibited excellent antifouling ability to ensure easy cleaning, good stability, and durability for recycle use. With the inherent advantages of high efficiency, easy scale-up, and reusability, the current membrane fabrication strategy may offer an alternative promising approach to developing a new-generation membrane for practical oil/water separation.

Designing of porous carbon system for CO2 uptake has attracted a plenty of interest due to the ever-increasing concerns about climate change and global warming. Herein, a novel N rich porous carbon is prepared by in-situ chemical oxidation polyaniline (PANI) on a surface of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and then activated with KOH. The porosity of such carbon materials can be tuned by rational introduction of MWCNTs, adjusting the amount of KOH, and controlling the pyrolysis temperature. The obtained M/P-0.1-600-2 adsorbent possesses a high surface area of 1017 m2 g−1 and a high N content of 3.11 at%. Such M/P-0.1-600-2 adsorbent delivers an enhanced CO2 capture capability of 2.63 mmol g−1 at 298.15 K and five bars, which is 14 times higher than that of pristine MWCNTs (0.18 mmol g−1). In addition, such M/P-0.1-600-2 adsorbent performs with a good stability, with almost no decay in a successive five adsorption-desorption cycles.