Abstract

Metal-organic frameworks are widely considered for the separation of chemical mixtures due to their adjustable physical and chemical properties. However, while much effort is currently devoted to developing new adsorbents for a given separation, an ideal scenario would involve a single adsorbent for multiple separations. Porous materials exhibiting framework flexibility offer unique opportunities to tune these properties since the pore size and shape can be controlled by the application of external stimuli. Here, we establish a proof-of-concept for the molecular sieving separation of species with similar sizes (CO2/N2 and CO2/CH4), via precise mechanical control of the pore size aperture in a flexible metal-organic framework. Besides its infinite selectivity for the considered gas mixtures, this material shows excellent regeneration capability when releasing the external mechanical constraint. This strategy, combining an external stimulus applied to a structurally compliant adsorbent, offers a promising avenue for addressing some of the most challenging gas separations.

Separation of gasses with similar physical and chemical properties can be energy demanding, and adsorption-based technologies may provide alternatives with lower energy consumption. Here, the authors show mechanical control of pore size aperture in flexible metal-organic frameworks for separation of gasses.

Details

Title
Tailoring the separation properties of flexible metal-organic frameworks using mechanical pressure
Author
Chanut Nicolas 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Aziz, Ghoufi 2 ; Marie-Vanessa, Coulet 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Bourrelly Sandrine 3 ; Kuchta Bodgan 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Maurin Guillaume 5 ; Llewellyn, Philip L 6   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 CNRS Laboratoire MADIREL (UMR7246), Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France; MIT-CNRS-AMU joint laboratory/MIT Energy Initiative, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MultiScale Materials Science for Energy & Environment , Cambridge, USA (GRID:grid.116068.8) (ISNI:0000 0001 2341 2786) 
 Institut de Physique de Rennes, Rennes, France (GRID:grid.461893.1) 
 CNRS Laboratoire MADIREL (UMR7246), Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France (GRID:grid.461893.1) 
 CNRS Laboratoire MADIREL (UMR7246), Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France (GRID:grid.461893.1); Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Department of Chemistry, Wroclaw, Poland (GRID:grid.7005.2) (ISNI:0000 0000 9805 3178) 
 University of Montpellier, Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier, UMR 5253 CNRS, UM, ENSCM, Montpellier, France (GRID:grid.121334.6) (ISNI:0000 0001 2097 0141) 
 CNRS Laboratoire MADIREL (UMR7246), Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France (GRID:grid.121334.6) 
Publication year
2020
Publication date
2020
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2371802996
Copyright
This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.