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Materials

Selective CO2 Sorption

Framework compound adsorbs CO2 at low pressures

by Mitch Jacoby
August 31, 2009 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 87, Issue 35

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Credit: George Shimizu/U Calgary (both)
The new MOF is built from Zn-aminotriazolate layers (top) and oxalate pillars (Zn = cyan, N = blue, O = red, C = gray).
Credit: George Shimizu/U Calgary (both)
The new MOF is built from Zn-aminotriazolate layers (top) and oxalate pillars (Zn = cyan, N = blue, O = red, C = gray).

A metal-organic framework (MOF) compound composed of aminotriazole-based ligands selectively adsorbs carbon dioxide from gas mixtures at low CO2 partial pressures, according to a study in Chemical Communications (DOI: 10.1039/b911481e). Exceptionally high CO2 uptake has been reported previously for other MOFs, but those studies were conducted at high CO2 pressures (tens of bars). The new study, which addresses CO2 uptake at pressures of up to approximately 1 bar, may lead to strategies for making sorbents for gas purification. University of Calgary chemists Ramanathan Vaidhyanathan, George K. H. Shimizu, and coworkers designed MOFs with amine-lined pores to exploit that functional group’s strong affinity for CO2. By reacting zinc carbonate, oxalic acid, and an aminotriazole under mild conditions, the team formed a porous crystalline material composed of zinc-dimer-aminotriazolate layers that are supported by oxalate pillars. The group reports that CO2 adsorption and desorption cycles were repeated eight times at low pressures with complete reversibility. They add that the material does not exhibit appreciable uptake of nitrogen, argon, and hydrogen under similar conditions.

[+]Enlarge
Credit: George Shimizu/U Calgary (both)
The new MOF is built from Zn-aminotriazolate layers (top) and oxalate pillars (Zn = cyan, N = blue, O = red, C = gray).
Credit: George Shimizu/U Calgary (both)
The new MOF is built from Zn-aminotriazolate layers (top) and oxalate pillars (Zn = cyan, N = blue, O = red, C = gray).

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