Chemical Fixation of CO₂ Catalyzed by Functionalized Graphene Oxide

The amino-functionalized imidazole ionic liquid (IL) was supported on graphene oxide (GO) and Santa Barbara Amorphous mesoporous molecular sieves (SBA-15) through the facile and simplified one-pot grafting approach to catalyze the synthesis of cyclic carbonates. The structure and thermal stability of the catalyst and the loading of the amino-functionalized imidazole IL were studied in detail with Fourier transforn infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR), scanning electron microscope(SEM), thermogravimetric analysis(TGA) and elemental analysis(EA). During the cycloaddition reaction, GO-NH₂ exhibited higher activity than SBA-15-NH₂. The optimum condition was 0.15 g catalyst, 130 ℃, 1.5 MPa CO₂ pressure and 5 h of reaction time, and the yield of propylene carbonate reached 96.46%. Furthermore, the supported catalyst exhibited promising recyclability and reusability for five consecutive reuses.