Ambient CO2 adsorption via membrane contactors – Value of assimilation from air as nature stomata

Biomimetic systems represent one of the most attractive ways to produce artificial complex devices taking the best from nature in a simple and repetitive manner. Some of these systems can imitate trees in some of their functions, in this article, the objective is to imitate trees in their ability to fixate CO2 and use it to produce organic compounds. As trees do that fixation after the penetration of the gas though the smart pores of the leaves, stomata, we call our pores as artificial stomata. The project aims to end up with compact systems for small size devices that would work with autonomy in the near future in energy systems. Polysulfone based membranes were prepared by a Phase Inversion Precipitation method using different polymeric solutions (N,NDimethylformamide or 1-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone). Obtained asymmetric fingerlike, droplike, or spongy morphologies were characterized: by SEM and ESEM equipped with EDX, while their surfaces were investigated by: AFM, dynamic and static contact angle, swelling measurement. Moreover, copper - ferrite nanoparticles, used for preparation of composite membranes was characterized by TEM, and X-ray diffraction. Their influence on material CO2 solubility, membrane surface morphology and wettability were deeply investigated, and demonstrated influence of membranes roughness on their performance. Furthermore, generated results reveled higher CO2 assimilation than the natural stomata and shown very high CO2 absorption flux (67.5 mmol/m2*s).