Reversible coordinative binding and separation of sulfur dioxide in a robust metal–organic framework with open copper sites

DOI: 10.1038/s41563-019-0495-0

Authors: Gemma L. Smith (University of Manchester) , Jennifer E. Eyley (University of Manchester) , Xue Han (University of Manchester) , Xinran Zhang (University of Manchester) , Jiangnan Li (University of Manchester) , Nicholas M. Jacques (University of Manchester) , Harry G. W. Godfrey (University of Manchester) , Stephen P. Argent (University of Nottingham) , Laura J. Mccormick Mcpherson (Advanced Light Source) , Simon J. Teat (Advanced Light Source) , Yongqiang Cheng (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) , Mark D. Frogley (Diamond Light Source) , Gianfelice Cinque (Diamond Light Source) , Sarah Day (Diamond Light Source) , Chiu C. Tang (Diamond Light Source) , Timothy L. Easun (Cardiff University) , Svemir Rudic (ISIS) , Anibal J. Ramirez-Cuesta (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) , Sihai Yang (University of Manchester) , Martin Schroeder (University of Manchester)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Nature Materials , VOL 29

State: Published (Approved)
Published: October 2019

Abstract: Emissions of SO2 from flue gas and marine transport have detrimental impacts on the environment and human health, but SO2 is also an important industrial feedstock if it can be recovered, stored and transported efficiently. Here we report the exceptional adsorption and separation of SO2 in a porous material, [Cu2(L)] (H4L = 4′,4‴-(pyridine-3,5-diyl)bis([1,1′-biphenyl]-3,5-dicarboxylic acid)), MFM-170. MFM-170 exhibits fully reversible SO2 uptake of 17.5 mmol g−1 at 298 K and 1.0 bar, and the SO2 binding domains for trapped molecules within MFM-170 have been determined. We report the reversible coordination of SO2 to open Cu(ii) sites, which contributes to excellent adsorption thermodynamics and selectivities for SO2 binding and facile regeneration of MFM-170 after desorption. MFM-170 is stable to water, acid and base and shows great promise for the dynamic separation of SO2 from simulated flue gas mixtures, as confirmed by breakthrough experiments.

Journal Keywords: Chemistry; Materials science; Metal–organic frameworks

Diamond Keywords: Gas Separation

Subject Areas: Materials, Environment


Instruments: B22-Multimode InfraRed imaging And Microspectroscopy , I11-High Resolution Powder Diffraction

Other Facilities: Advanced Light Source

Added On: 16/10/2019 09:46

Discipline Tags:

Desertification & Pollution Earth Sciences & Environment Chemistry Materials Science Metal-Organic Frameworks Metallurgy Organometallic Chemistry

Technical Tags:

Diffraction Spectroscopy X-ray Powder Diffraction Infrared Spectroscopy Synchtron-based Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (SR-FTIR)