Surfactant-assisted hydrothermal crystallization of nanostructured lithium metasilicate (Li₂SiO₃) hollow spheres: II - Textural analysis and CO₂-H₂O sorption evaluation

In a previous work, the synthesis and structural-microstructural characterization of different nanocrystalline lithium metasilicate (Li ₂SiO₃) samples were performed. Then, in this work, initially, a textural analysis was performed over the same samples. Li ₂SiO₃ samples prepared with a non-ionic surfactant (TRITON X-114) presented the best textural properties. Therefore, this sample was selected to evaluate its water vapor (H₂O) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) sorption properties. Sorption experiments were performed at low temperatures (30-80 °C) in presence of water vapor using N₂ or CO₂ as carrier gases. Results clearly evidenced that CO₂ sorption on these materials is highly improved by H₂O vapor, and of course, textural properties enhanced the H₂O-CO₂ sorption efficiency, in comparison with the solid-state reference sample.