A partially interpenetrated metal-organic framework for selective hysteretic sorption of carbon dioxide

The selective capture of carbon dioxide in porous materials has potential for the storage and purification of fuel and flue gases. However, adsorption capacities under dynamic conditions are often insufficient for practical applications, and strategies to enhance CO2-host selectivity are required. The unique partially interpenetrated metal-organic framework NOTT-202 represents a new class of dynamic material that undergoes pronounced framework phase transition on desolvation. We report temperature-dependent adsorption/desorption hysteresis in desolvated NOTT-202a that responds selectively to CO2. The CO2 isotherm shows three steps in the adsorption profile at 195 K, and stepwise filling of pores generated within the observed partially interpenetrated structure has been modelled by grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations. Adsorption of N2, CH4, O2, Ar and H2 exhibits reversible isotherms without hysteresis under the same conditions, and this allows capture of gases at high pressure, but selectively leaves CO2 trapped in the nanopores at low pressure. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved