Nitridated fibrous silica/tetrabutylammonium iodide (N‐DFNS/TBAI): Robust and efficient catalytic system for chemical fixation of carbon dioxide to cyclic carbonates

Abstract

The development of an active and competent catalyst for the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) to value added-chemicals at low pressure and temperature have great importance in the field of industrial chemical production as well as in tackling global warming. In this report, nitridated dendritic fibrous nano-silica (N-DFNS) as highly porous and stable nano-material have been synthesized by using ammonolysis reaction at various temperature ranging from 500–800 °C and used as heterogeneous catalysts in combination with TBAI for the synthesis of cyclic carbonates from CO₂ and epoxide. The presence of high surface area balanced acid-base bi-functionalities generated on silica due to ammonolysis offered high activity towards the synthesis of cyclic carbonates at the atmospheric pressure with excellent recyclability.