Synthesis and characterization of polyphenylene sulfide resin-derived S-doped porous carbons for efficient CO2 capture

Porous carbons have long been studied for their capacity to capture CO2 due to their enhanced textural characteristics and customizable surface decoration. However, developing porous carbons with significant CO2 uptake capacity and strong CO2/N2 selectivity is still a challenge. This study presents introducing sulfur (S) atoms into the porous carbon structure to increase CO2 uptake using a pre-carbonized polyphenylene sulfide resin (PPS) via chemical activation. By adjusting KOH activator amount and activation temperature, various textural features and S contents were obtained, resulting in a strong adsorption effect for CO2. The optimal sample displayed CO2 uptake of 3.64 and 5.13 mmol/g at 25 and 0 °C and a CO2/N2 selectivity of 19 due to the judicious heteroatom doping and optimal pore size distributions. The findings demonstrate the significant potential of PPS-derived porous carbon adsorbents for CO2 adsorption, and the novel synthesis method provides new possibilities for the scalable production of CO2 adsorbent.