Metal Oxide–Modified Nitrogen‐Doped Porous Carbon for Enhanced CO 2 Adsorption

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Abstract
The development of low‐cost, high‐performance adsorbents for carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) capture is essential for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. In this work, metal oxide‐modified nitrogen‐doped porous carbons were synthesized from groundnut shell‐derived carbon via a sustainable approach. A series of structurally related materials, including pristine activated carbon, nitrogen‐doped carbon, and metal‐incorporated variants, were systematically designed to elucidate the role of surface chemistry in CO 2 adsorption. Comprehensive characterization using N 2 adsorption‐desorption analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the successful incorporation of nitrogen functionalities and metal oxide species. The prepared adsorbents exhibited high surface areas ranging from 807 to 1184 m 2 g − 1 . Among them, the cerium‐modified nitrogen‐doped carbon exhibited the highest CO 2 adsorption capacity of 3.56 mmol g − 1 at 298 K and 1 bar, together with the highest CO 2 /CH 4 uptake ratio among the prepared adsorbents. Further evaluation using Ideal Adsorbed Solution Theory (IAST) predicted a CO 2 /CH 4 selectivity of 8.1 for an equimolar gas mixture, demonstrating its strong preference for CO 2 adsorption. The enhanced CO 2 uptake of the cerium‐modified material is associated with the formation of a distinct CeO 2 phase and Ce‐induced modification of the carbon surface/interfacial environment, as supported by the structural and spectroscopic characterization results.

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