Research Projects

The rapid escalation of environmental pollution resulting from industrialization poses a significant global challenge. In the near future, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is expected to become a critical strategy for reducing CO₂ emissions from large stationary sources such as power plants and heavy industries. Addressing this urgent issue requires the development of high-performance solid adsorbents for reversible and selective CO₂ capture and separation (CCS). In this proposal, we aim to design, synthesize, characterize, and apply new amino acid-functionalized ionic liquids (AA-ILs) polymer composite electrospun nanofibers for efficient, reversible, and selective CO₂ adsorption and desorption. The proposed research begins with the synthesis of a variety of new AA-based ILs through various organic transformations, functionalization, and synthesis steps. In the AA-based ILs, heterocyclic moieties such as imidazolium and benzimidazolium will serve as cationic centers, while amino acids will act as both anionic and cationic components for functionalization. In the first series, mono-cationic AA-based ILs will be synthesized where AA will be functionalized with cations such as imidazolium and benzimidazolium, and different inorganic moieties will serve as anions. Further, in a similar context, dicationic ILs will be synthesized where AA will be functionalized with cation moieties. In the other part of the proposal, another series of AA-based ILs will be synthesized, where AA will be directly serving as anions in the synthesized ILs. In this series, monocationic and dicationic AA-based ILs will be synthesized. In the next phase, the project will focus on fabricating electrospun nanofibers and nano-mats embedded with these synthesized AA-ILs and polymer composites using the electrospun technique. This step is intended to introduce additional hierarchical porosity, robust heterogeneous nature, and active surface area, improving CO₂ accessibility and diffusion kinetics. To further enhance CO₂ adsorption capacity, various ratios and different AA-ILs will be used to prepare porous nanofibers, leveraging their CO₂-philic nature. The host–guest interaction between AA-ILs and CO2 for the chemisorption is expected to create highly efficient sorbent systems. The variation of both cationic and anionic functionalities will allow fine-tuning of pore structure and surface chemistry in the electrospun nanofibers for optimal CO₂ capture performance. However, these prepared engineered AA-ILs polymer composite electrospun nanofibers are expected to synergistically combine the unique physicochemical properties of ionic liquids with the structural advantages of porous polymeric materials. The resulting pure AA based ILs and AA-ILs polymer composite electrospun nanofibers after systematic characterization will undergo comprehensive testing for reversible and selective CO₂ capture. The performance and capacity of CO₂ adsorption/desorption of these materials will be evaluated using GC & TGA. We will also examine the performance of these materials under real-time and composition as the industrial compositions, including mixed gas compositions (e.g., CO₂/N₂/O₂/CH₄), humidity variations, and temperature swing adsorption cycles. The variation of both cationic and anionic functionalities will allow fine-tuning of pore structure and surface chemistry in the electrospun nanofibers for optimal CO₂ capture performance. The resulting AA-ILs and AA-ILs polymer composite electrospun nanofibers embedded with the high ionic content, thermal stability, economical, and environmental compatibility due to AA based ILs render them promising as solid adsorbent for reversible applicability in CCS. However, the implementation of CCS projects, particularly those involving solid-state reversible adsorption CO₂, presents one of the most promising and practical routes to mitigating climate change on a global scale.