Regulating proton transfer efficiency through the synergistic effect of copper and zirconium in binary modified porous materials: A promising strategy for amine-catalyzed carbon dioxide desorption

The high energy demand for CO₂ desorption from amine solutions remains a major challenge in post-combustion carbon capture, highlighting the need for efficient catalysts to reduce thermal energy consumption. This study explores the synergistic effect of copper (Cu) and zirconium (Zr) in binary-modified porous materials to enhance proton transfer efficiency and accelerate CO₂ release. A series of Cu/xZr-MOF-T catalysts were synthesized via precursor carbonization, with Cu/0.05Zr-MOF-300 identified as the optimal candidate due to its balanced Cu-Zr ratio and calcination temperature. Structural and elemental integrity were confirmed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and N₂ adsorption-desorption (BET) analyses, while catalytic performance was evaluated using a CO₂ desorption setup. The Cu/0.05Zr-MOF-300 catalyst achieved a 150% increase in maximum desorption rate and a 70% reduction in relative thermal power consumption, outperforming single-metal metal-organic framework (MOFs) by approximately twofold. These results demonstrate that Cu-Zr synergism optimizes proton transfer pathways and improves pore size distribution and surface area, thereby enhancing CO₂ desorption efficiency. This work underscores the potential of binary metal porous catalysts to address energy efficiency challenges in industrial CO₂ capture and provides a basis for future research on tailored catalyst design for sustainable carbon mitigation technologies.