Template-based Synthesis of a Formate Metal-Organic Framework/Activated Carbon Fiber Composite for High-performance Methane Adsorptive Separation.

Simultaneous improvement in adsorption selectivity and capacity for single adsorbents is challenging but counting for much in adsorptive separations. To this end, a formate metal-organic framework and activated carbon fiber composite was synthesized in our work by a simple two-step process, involving homogeneous precipitation of a MOF precursor on an activated carbon fiber and subsequent template replication. The resultant core-shell composite, ACF@[Ni (HCOO) ], exhibited optimized adsorption performance both in selectivity and capacity for the separation of CH /N to most of state-of-the-art adsorbents.