Distribution and Transport of CO2 in Hydrated Hyperbranched Poly(ethylenimine) Membranes: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Approach

KI Kim and R Lawler and HJ Moon and P Narayanan and MA Sakwa-Novak and CW Jones and SS Jang, ACS OMEGA, 6, 3390-3398 (2021).

DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.0c05923

Hyperbranched poly(ethylenimine) (HB-PEI) has been distinguished as a promising candidate for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture. In this study, we investigate the distribution and transport of CO2 molecules in a HB-PEI membrane at various hydration levels using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. For this, model structures consisting of amorphous HB-PEI membranes with CO2 molecules are equilibrated at various hydration levels. Under dry conditions, the primary and secondary amines are highly associated with CO2, indicating that they would participate in CO2 capture via the carbamate formation mechanism. Under hydrated conditions, the pair correlations of CO2 with the primary and secondary amines are reduced. This result suggests that the carbamate formation mechanism is less prevalent compared to dry conditions, which is also supported by CO2 residence time analysis. However, in the presence of water molecules, it is found that the CO2 molecules can be associated with both amine groups and water molecules, which would enable the tertiary amine as well as the primary and secondary amines to capture CO2 molecules via the bicarbonate formation mechanism. Through our MD simulation results, the feasibilities of different CO2 capture pathways in HB-PEI membranes are demonstrated at the molecular level.

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