Kim, Hyeonwoo Kwon, Choah Yoo, Hyeri Baek, Jihye Kim, Dongwhi Cha, JinHyeok Kim, Sangtae 2025-11-26T10:00:58Z 2025-11-26T10:00:58Z 2025-11-26 2025-12 1385-8947 https://pubs.kist.re.kr/handle/201004/153667 Amine-based absorbents dominate industrial CO2 capture due to their high chemical affinity for CO2. However, optimizing the composition of amine-based absorbents presents a significant challenge because the role of constituent molecules and their molecular interactions has not yet been fully understood. In this work, we employ universal neural network interatomic potentials to probe how organic solvent characteristics affect molecular solvation shell distribution and eventually the CO2 absorption kinetics in amine-co-solvent mixtures. Specifically, we analyze nine sets of mixtures containing one of three representative amines-monoethanolamine, 3-methylamino propylamine and triethylenetetramine with one of three organic solvents-ethylene glycol, 2-ethoxyethanol and 2-butoxyethanol at a fixed concentration of water. The computed results show that compact and polar solvent molecules such as ethylene glycol strengthen and prolong N-CO2coordination in the mixture, promoting CO2 absorption. Water exhibits two contrasting effects: it increases the desolvation penalty when clustering around the amine nitrogen by disrupting the CO2 to bond, while stabilizing the transition state and accelerating the absorption by forming a solvation shell when localizing near CO2. These findings underscore the need to balance solvation strength, molecular mobility, and transition-state stabilization to optimize the CO2 capture performance, while also providing a molecular-level perspective to guide the design of amine-co-solvent systems. English Elsevier BV Molecular insights into co-solvent and water duality in amine-based CO₂ absorption via neural network-based atomistic simulations Article 10.1016/j.cej.2025.169980 1 Chemical Engineering Journal, v.525 Chemical Engineering Journal 525 N scie scopus 001614089600033 2-s2.0-105019648805 Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering Article CAPTURE SOLVENTS ALKANOLAMINES ABSORBENTS CO 2 capture Co-solvent design Molecular dynamics simulation Solvation shell Amine-based absorbent