CO₂ Adsorption in Cu₂BaSnS₄/Polyaniline Composites: A Synergistic Approach

The incorporation of conductive polymers with chalcogenide-based materials has shown promising prospects in enhancing CO₂ adsorption performance. In this paper, a novel Polyaniline/Cu2BaSnS4 (PANI/CBTS) composite was synthesized by the polymerization of aniline inside the pores of Cu₂BaSnS₄ for investigating the synergistic effect of CBTS incorporation on CO₂ uptake and release behavior in PANI. All composite materials were prepared with varied content of CBTS, and addition of 5% of CBTS showed the most promising results. The studies via BET surface area revealed that introduction of CBTS in PANI optimizes the porosity of composite material along with its surface properties and results in enhancement of CO₂ adsorption capacity over pristine PANI. Meanwhile, the SEM and XRD analysis confirmed the homogeneous dispersion of CBTS particles in the composite and the crystalline integrity of CBTS. The adsorption-desorption cycles of CO₂ showed a sharp decrease in uptake following the addition of CBTS because the micro- and mesopores of PANI were blocked by CBTS particles, impeding the adsorption-desorption process. However, the as-received PANI/CBTS5 composite demonstrated relatively promising performance for CO₂ capture applications and opened up new avenues for the pursuit of effective and sustainable development in adsorbent materials.