Bacterial cellulose guided In-Situ growth of ZIF-8 toward hierarchical N-doped porous carbon for enhanced CO2 capture

Porous carbon has emerged as a promising material for CO 2 capture owing to its low cost, high specific surface area, and tunable porosity, with surface chemistry and pore architecture serving as critical determinants of adsorption performance. To prevent specific surface area loss in heteroatom-doped biochar—a common limitation, bacterial cellulose (BC) was employed as a structural template to facilitate the in-situ growth of nitrogen-rich ZIF-8 crystals along its fibrous network, forming hybrid composites. Subsequent carbonization yielded N-doped biochar featuring a highly porous, three-dimensionally interconnected architecture. BC contains a large number of oxygen-containing groups. This can facilitate the uniform growth of ZIF-8 along nanofibers. During the high-temperature carbonization process, ZIF-8 creates a large number of micropores through gasification etching and is simultaneously transformed into high-concentration nitrogen-doped porous carbon nanofibers. The 900 °C carbonized sample (CBCZ-900) combines high specific surface area and outstanding CO 2 adsorption (5.35 mmol/g) with exceptional cycling stability, positioning it as a viable candidate for industrial carbon capture systems.