Adsorption study of CO2, CH4, N2, and H2O on an interwoven copper carboxylate metal-organic framework (MOF-14).

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are attractive microporous materials for adsorption separations due to their extraordinary structures and impressive high surface areas. Catenation, or framework interpenetration, can significantly impact the crystal stability and improve the adsorption interactions. This interesting approach was used to obtain {[Cu(3)(BTB)(2)(H(2)O)(3)]·(DMF)(9)(H(2)O)(2)} (MOF-14) as a microporous material with a high surface area and large pore volume, which are desirable parameters for adsorption applications.

Effect of open metal sites on adsorption of polar and nonpolar molecules in metal-organic framework Cu-BTC.

Atomistic grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations were performed in this work to investigate the role of open copper sites of Cu-BTC in affecting the separation of carbon monoxide from binary mixtures containing methane, nitrogen, or hydrogen. Mixtures containing 5%, 50%, or 95% CO were examined. The simulations show that electrostatic interactions between the CO dipole and the partial charges on the metal-organic framework (MOF) atoms dominate the adsorption mechanism.