Microporous aerogel
AssigneeCommonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
InventorsKristina Konstas, George Maurdev, Xingdong Wang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure generally relates to a microporous aerogel, processes for preparing a microporous aerogel, and applications for the microporous aerogel. The present disclosure also generally relates to an apparatus for capturing carbon dioxide from a gaseous stream or from the atmosphere, the apparatus comprising a microporous aerogel for selectively adsorbing and desorbing the carbon dioxide.
Claims32
A silica-based microporous aerogel for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, the microporous aerogel comprises a reaction product of reagents comprising at least one amino substituted silane, at least one alkyl substituted silane, and at least one silicate, wherein:
- the microporous aerogel comprises a plurality of pores wherein at least 50% of the pores have a diameter of less than about 2 nm;
- the microporous aerogel has a surface area in a range between about 0.1 m2/g and about 500 m2/g;
- the at least one silicate is in accordance with Formula 3:
- Si(OR7)4 Formula 3,
- wherein R7 is C1-6alkyl;
- and
- the at least one silicate has a % loading of at least about 20 mol %.
A process for preparing a silica-based microporous aerogel for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, wherein the microporous aerogel comprises a reaction product of reagents comprising at least one amino substituted silane, at least one alkyl substituted silane, and at least one silicate that is in accordance with Formula 3:
- Si(OR7)4 Formula 3
- wherein R7 is C1-6alkyl, and
- wherein the at least one silicate has a % loading of at least about 20 mol %, the process comprising:
- (i)(a) mixing an aqueous solution comprising the at least one amino substituted silane, the at least one alkyl substituted silane, and the at least one silicate, and a solvent system, to form a wet-gel matrix;
- and
- (ii) drying the wet-gel matrix to provide the silica-based microporous aerogel,
- wherein the dried silica-based microporous aerogel has a plurality of pores wherein at least 50% of the pores have a diameter of less than about 2 nm,
- the microporous aerogel has a surface area in a range between about 0.1 m2/g and about 500 m2/g;
- with the proviso that drying the wet-gel matrix does not involve supercritical CO2.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.