Shukla Chinmay A, Moghadam Roja P, Patwardhan Siddharth V, Ranade Vivek V
Multiphase Reactors and Process Intensification Group, Bernal Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick V94 T9PX, Ireland.
Green Nanomaterials Research Group, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 3JD, U.K.
ACS Sustain Chem Eng. 2024 Jun 21;12(27):10260-10268. doi: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c03101. eCollection 2024 Jul 8.
In this work, we present a method for the continuous synthesis of bioinspired porous silica (BIS) particles using carbon dioxide (CO) as an acidifying agent. Typical BIS synthesis uses strong mineral acids (e.g., HCl) to initiate the hydrolysis and subsequent condensation reactions. The use of strong acids leads to challenges in controlling the reaction pH. The synthesis approach proposed in this work offers for the first time CO as an attractive alternative for the synthesis of BIS and demonstrates the continuous process. The developed method leverages the mild acidic and the self-buffering nature of the CO combined with additional options for controlling mass transfer rates to facilitate enhanced control of pH, which is crucial for controlling the properties of synthesized BIS. Proof of concept experiments conducted in continuous mode demonstrated a yield of over 70% and a surface area exceeding 500 m/g. These results indicate the successful synthesis of BIS using CO with properties in the desired range. The enhanced pH control offered by this CO-based process will facilitate the implementation of a sustainable and robust continuous process for BIS synthesis.
在这项工作中，我们提出了一种以二氧化碳（CO₂）作为酸化剂连续合成仿生多孔二氧化硅（BIS）颗粒的方法。典型的BIS合成使用强无机酸（如HCl）来引发水解和随后的缩合反应。使用强酸会导致控制反应pH值方面的挑战。这项工作中提出的合成方法首次提供了CO₂作为合成BIS的一种有吸引力的替代方法，并展示了连续过程。所开发的方法利用了CO₂的温和酸性和自缓冲特性，以及控制传质速率的其他选项，以促进对pH值的更好控制，这对于控制合成BIS的性质至关重要。以连续模式进行的概念验证实验表明产率超过70%，表面积超过500 m²/g。这些结果表明使用CO₂成功合成了具有所需范围内性质的BIS。这种基于CO₂的工艺提供的增强的pH控制将有助于实现BIS合成的可持续且稳健的连续过程。
