Engineered nanoporous sorbents for gaseous fluorocarbons related adsorption applications

Abstract

The utilization or emission of fluorocarbons in varied industries, including fine chemicals development, nonferrous metals smelting, electronics/semiconductors fabrication, and space heating/cooling, is continuously increasing year after year due to society advancement and population expansion, but at the prices of chemicals waste and irreversible environmental issues. Thus, the development of engineered solid sorbents will necessitate the capture, separation, and recycling of fluorocarbons in each scenario. This review initially discusses the sources and techniques required for various fluorocarbons used or emitted in existing industries, followed by a brief introduction to the importances of sorption media. The impacts of sorbents used in fluorocarbon sorption-related applications are reviewed to emphasize the importance of engineered nanoporous sorbents with specific textural/chemical properties to improve sorption-related performance. Furthermore, engineered strategies for sorbent design based on continuous pore-filling mechanisms, including sorbent-fluorocarbons interactions by controlling the strength of acid-base pairs and fluorocarbon-fluorocarbon interactions by tuning pore size/dimension/shape/morphology, are outlined. In addition, systemic experimental and computational characterizations provide insights into structure-performance correlations and corresponding sorption mechanisms. Next, we exemplified perfluorocarbons and refrigerants as typical fluorocarbons to further illustrate the roles of engineered nanoporous sorbents in fluorocarbon sorption performance. Finally, we emphasize the future challenges and opportunities for fluorinated gas purification and reuse with the “Mechanisms—Data” dual-driven conception for engineered nanoporous sorbent development.