Direct Observation and Quantification of CO 2 Binding Within an Amine-Functionalized Nanoporous Solid

Abstract

Designing Carbon Dioxide Traps One widely discussed means of stemming the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is to capture the gas prior to its emission and then bury it. The materials currently known to best adsorb CO 2 for this purpose tend to involve amine groups; however, the precise molecular details of adsorption often remain murky, and rational improvement of sorbent properties by structural modification has been challenging. Vaidhyanathan et al. (p. 650 ; see the Perspective by Lastoskie ) have crystallographically resolved the binding motifs of CO 2 in an amine-bearing metal-organic framework solid. Accompanying theoretical simulations matched the experimental observations.