Mechanical, Thermal, and Electrical Energy Storage in a Single Working Body: Electrification and Thermal Effects upon Pressure-Induced Water Intrusion-Extrusion in Nanoporous Solids

Fluorinated Nanosized Zeolitic-Imidazolate Frameworks as Potential Devices for Mechanical Energy Storage

Fluorination is one of the most efficient and universal strategies to increase the hydrophobicity of materials and consequently their water stability. Zeolitic-imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), which have limited stability in aqueous media and even lower stability when synthesized on a nanometric scale, can greatly benefit from the incorporation of fluorine atoms, not only to improve their stability but also to provide additional properties. Herein, we report the preparation of two different fluorinated ZIFs through a simple and scalable approach by using mixed ligands [2-methylimidazole, as a common ligand, and 4-(4-fluorophenyl)-1H-imidazole (monofluorinated linker) or 2-methyl-5-(trifluoromethyl)-1H-imidazole (trifluorinated linker) as a dopant], demonstrating the high versatility of the synthetic method developed to incorporate different fluorine-containing imidazole-based ligands. Second, we demonstrate for the first time that these nanoscale fluorinated ZIFs outperform the pristine ZIF-8 for water intrusion/extrusion, i.e., for storing mechanical energy via forced intrusion of nonwetting water due to the improved hydrophobicity and modified framework dynamics. Moreover, we also show that by varying the nature of the F-imidazole ligand, the performance of the resulting ZIFs, including the pressure thresholds and stored/dissipated energy, can be finely tuned, thus opening the path for the design of a library of fluorine-modified ZIFs with unique behavior.

Partial Water Intrusion and Extrusion in Hydrophobic Nanopores for Thermomechanical Energy Dissipation

Forced wetting (intrusion) and spontaneous dewetting (extrusion) of hydrophobic/lyophobic nanoporous materials by water/nonwetting liquid are of great importance for a broad span of technological and natural systems such as shock-absorbers, molecular springs, separation, chromatography, ion channels, nanofluidics, and many more. In most of these cases, the process of intrusion-extrusion is not complete due to the stochastic nature of external stimuli under realistic operational conditions. However, understanding of these partial processes is limited, as most of the works are focused on an idealized complete intrusion-extrusion cycle. In this work, we show an experimental system operating under partial intrusion/extrusion conditions and present a simple model that captures its main features. We rationalize these operational conditions in terms of the pore entrance and cavity size distributions of the material, which control the range of intrusion/extrusion pressures.

Mild-Temperature Supercritical Water Confined in Hydrophobic Metal-Organic Frameworks

Fluids under extreme confinement show characteristics significantly different from those of their bulk counterpart. This work focuses on water confined within the complex cavities of highly hydrophobic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) at high pressures. A combination of high-pressure intrusion-extrusion experiments with molecular dynamic simulations and synchrotron data reveals that supercritical transition for MOF-confined water takes place at a much lower temperature than in bulk water, ∼250 K below the reference values. This large shifting of the critical temperature (Tc) is attributed to the very large density of confined water vapor in the peculiar geometry and chemistry of the cavities of Cu2tebpz (tebpz = 3,3',5,5'-tetraethyl-4,4'-bipyrazolate) hydrophobic MOF. This is the first time the shift of Tc is investigated for water confined within highly hydrophobic nanoporous materials, which explains why such a large reduction of the critical temperature was never reported before, neither experimentally nor computationally.

Calorimetric Heats of Intrusion of LiCl Aqueous Solutions in Hydrophobic MFI-Type Zeosil: Influence of the Concentration

For the first time, we report calorimetric measurements of intrusion of aqueous LiCl solutions in a hydrophobic pure siliceous MFI zeolite (silicalite-1) under high pressure. Our results show that the intrusion heats are strongly dependent on the LiCl concentration. The intrusion process is endothermic for diluted solutions (molar H2O/LiCl = 12) as well as for water, but it becomes exothermic for a concentration close to saturation (molar H2O/LiCl = 4). Analysis of the data in the framework of wetting thermodynamics shows that besides surface wetting, other phenomena occur during intrusion, such as hydrogen-bond weakening and composition change. In all cases, water is preferentially intruded so that the intruded phase becomes more diluted than the bulk solution. In the case of the most diluted solution, only water molecules seemed to be intruded. Furthermore, silicalite-1 is shown to be very stable in the presence of LiCl solution, with no noticeable structural and textural modifications observed after intrusion.

Tuning Wetting-Dewetting Thermomechanical Energy for Hydrophobic Nanopores via Preferential Intrusion

Heat and the work of compression/decompression are among the basic properties of thermodynamic systems. Being relevant to many industrial and natural processes, this thermomechanical energy is challenging to tune due to fundamental boundaries for simple fluids. Here via direct experimental and atomistic observations, we demonstrate, for fluids consisting of nanoporous material and a liquid, one can overcome these limitations and noticeably affect both thermal and mechanical energies of compression/decompression exploiting preferential intrusion of water from aqueous solutions into subnanometer pores. We hypothesize that this effect is due to the enthalpy of dilution manifesting itself as the aqueous solution concentrates upon the preferential intrusion of pure water into pores. We suggest this genuinely subnanoscale phenomenon can be potentially a strategy for controlling the thermomechanical energy of microporous liquids and tuning the wetting/dewetting heat of nanopores relevant to a variety of natural and technological processes spanning from biomedical applications to oil-extraction and renewable energy.

Reversible Surface Energy Storage in Molecular-Scale Porous Materials

Forcible wetting of hydrophobic pores represents a viable method for energy storage in the form of interfacial energy. The energy used to fill the pores can be recovered as pressure-volume work upon decompression. For efficient recovery, the expulsion pressure should not be significantly lower than the pressure required for infiltration. Hysteresis of the wetting/drying cycle associated with the kinetic barrier to liquid expulsion results in energy dissipation and reduced storage efficiency. In the present work, we use open ensemble (Grand Canonical) Monte Carlo simulations to study the improvement of energy recovery with decreasing diameters of planar pores. Near-complete reversibility is achieved at pore widths barely accommodating a monolayer of the liquid, thus minimizing the area of the liquid/gas interface during the cavitation process. At the same time, these conditions lead to a steep increase in the infiltration pressure required to overcome steric wall/water repulsion in a tight confinement and a considerable reduction in the translational entropy of confined molecules. In principle, similar effects can be expected when increasing the size of the liquid particles without altering the absorbent porosity. While the latter approach is easier to follow in laboratory work, we discuss the advantages of reducing the pore diameter, which reduces the cycling hysteresis while simultaneously improving the stored-energy density in the material.

Quality-dependent performance of hydrophobic ZIF-67 upon high-pressure water intrusion-extrusion process

Zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) microporous materials have already been employed in many fields of energetic and environmental interest since the last decade. The commercial scale production of some of these materials makes them more accessible for their implementation in industrial processes; however, their massive synthesis may entail modifications to the preparation protocols, which may result in a loss in the optimization of this process and a drop in the material's quality. This fact may have implications for the performance of these materials during their lifetime, especially when they are used in applications such as energy dissipation, in which they are subjected to several operating cycles under high pressures. This study focuses on ZIF-67, a material that has demonstrated in the past its ability to dissipate energy through the water intrusion-extrusion process under high pressure. Two ZIF-67 samples were synthesized using different protocols, and 2 batches of different qualities (labelled as high quality (HQ) and low quality (LQ)) were obtained and analysed by water porosimetry to study their performance in the intrusion-extrusion process. Unexpectedly, minor structural differences, which are typically neglected especially under production conditions, had a dramatic effect on their performance. The results presented in this study reiterate the importance of quality control with respect to reproducibility of experimental results. In a broader perspective, they are critical to the technology transfer from academia to industry.

Effect of Crystallite Size on the Flexibility and Negative Compressibility of Hydrophobic Metal-Organic Frameworks

Flexible nanoporous materials are of great interest for applications in many fields such as sensors, catalysis, material separation, and energy storage. Of these, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are the most explored thus far. However, tuning their flexibility for a particular application remains challenging. In this work, we explore the effect of the exogenous property of crystallite size on the flexibility of the ZIF-8 MOF. By subjecting hydrophobic ZIF-8 to hydrostatic compression with water, the flexibility of its empty framework and the giant negative compressibility it experiences during water intrusion were recorded via in operando synchrotron irradiation. It was observed that as the crystallite size is reduced to the nanoscale, both flexibility and the negative compressibility of the framework are reduced by ∼25% and ∼15%, respectively. These results pave the way for exogenous tuning of flexibility in MOFs without altering their chemistries.

Hydrophobicity of molecular-scale textured surfaces: The case of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks, an atomistic perspective

Hydrophobicity has proven fundamental in an inexhaustible amount of everyday applications. Material hydrophobicity is determined by chemical composition and geometrical characteristics of its macroscopic surface. Surface roughness or texturing enhances intrinsic hydrophilic or hydrophobic characteristics of a material. Here we consider crystalline surfaces presenting molecular-scale texturing typical of crystalline porous materials, e.g., metal-organic frameworks. In particular, we investigate one such material with remarkable hydrophobic qualities, ZIF-8. We show that ZIF-8 hydrophobicity is driven not only by its chemical composition but also its sub-nanoscale surface corrugations, a physical enhancement rare amongst hydrophobes. Studying ZIF-8's hydrophobic properties is challenging as experimentally it is difficult to distinguish between the materials' and the macroscopic corrugations' contributions to the hydrophobicity. The computational contact angle determination is also difficult as the standard "geometric" technique of liquid nanodroplet deposition is prone to many artifacts. Here, we characterise ZIF-8 hydrophobicity via: (i) the "geometric" approach and (ii) the "energetic" method, utilising the Young-Dupré formula and computationally determining the liquid-solid adhesion energy. Both approaches reveal nanoscale Wenzel-like bathing of the corrugated surface. Moreover, we illustrate the importance of surface linker termination in ZIF-8 hydrophobicity, which reduces when varied from sp3 N to sp2 N termination. We also consider halogenated analogues of the methyl-imidazole linker, which promote the transition from nanoWenzel-like to nanoCassie-Baxter-like states, further enhancing surface hydrophobicity. Present results reveal the complex interface physics and chemistry between water and complex porous, molecular crystalline surfaces, providing a hint to tune their hydrophobicity.

What keeps nanopores boiling

The liquid-to-vapor transition can occur under unexpected conditions in nanopores, opening the door to fundamental questions and new technologies. The physics of boiling in confinement is progressively introduced, starting from classical nucleation theory, passing through nanoscale effects, and terminating with the material and external parameters that affect the boiling conditions. The relevance of boiling in specific nanoconfined systems is discussed, focusing on heterogeneous lyophobic systems, chromatographic columns, and ion channels. The current level of control of boiling in nanopores enabled by microporous materials such as metal organic frameworks and biological nanopores paves the way to thrilling theoretical challenges and to new technological opportunities in the fields of energy, neuromorphic computing, and sensing.

Bimetallic Zeolitic Imidazole Frameworks for Improved Stability and Performance of Intrusion-Extrusion Energy Applications

Hydrophobic flexible zeolitic imidazole frameworks (ZIFs) represent reference microporous materials in the area of mechanical energy storage, conversion, and dissipation via non-wetting liquid intrusion-extrusion cycle. However, some of them exhibit drawbacks such as lack of stability, high intrusion pressure, or low intrusion volume that make them non-ideal materials to consider as candidates for real applications. In this work, we face these limitations by exploiting the hybrid ZIF concept. Concretely, a bimetallic SOD-like ZIF consisting of Co and Zn ions was synthesized and compared with Co-ZIF (ZIF-67) and Zn-ZIF (ZIF-8) showing for the first time that the hybrid ZIF combines the good stability of ZIF-8 with the higher water intrusion volume of ZIF-67. Moreover, it is shown that the hybrid-ZIF approach can be used to tune the intrusion/extrusion pressure, which is crucial for technological applications.

Mechanism of Water Intrusion into Flexible ZIF-8: Liquid Is Not Vapor

Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks (ZIF) find application in storage and dissipation of mechanical energy. Their distinctive properties linked to their (sub)nanometer size and hydrophobicity allow for water intrusion only under high hydrostatic pressure. Here we focus on the popular ZIF-8 material investigating the intrusion mechanism in its nanoscale cages, which is the key to its rational exploitation in target applications. In this work, we used a joint experimental/theoretical approach combining in operando synchrotron experiments during high-pressure intrusion experiments, molecular dynamics simulations, and stochastic models to reveal that water intrusion into ZIF-8 occurs by a cascade filling of connected cages rather than a condensation process as previously assumed. The reported results allowed us to establish structure/function relations in this prototypical microporous material, representing an important step to devise design rules to synthesize porous media.

Optimization of the wetting-drying characteristics of hydrophobic metal organic frameworks via crystallite size: The role of hydrogen bonding between intruded and bulk liquid

HYPOTHESIS

The behavior of Heterogeneous Lyophobic Systems (HLSs) comprised of a lyophobic porous material and a corresponding non-wetting liquid is affected by a variety of different structural parameters of the porous material. Dependence on exogenic properties such as crystallite size is desirable for system tuning as they are much more facilely modified. We explore the dependence of intrusion pressure and intruded volume on crystallite size, testing the hypothesis that the connection between internal cavities and bulk water facilitates intrusion via hydrogen bonding, a phenomenon that is magnified in smaller crystallites with a larger surface/volume ratio.

EXPERIMENTS

Water intrusion/extrusion pressures and intrusion volume were experimentally measured for ZIF-8 samples of various crystallite sizes and compared to previously reported values. Alongside the practical research, molecular dynamics simulations and stochastic modeling were performed to illustrate the effect of crystallite size on the properties of the HLSs and uncover the important role of hydrogen bonding within this phenomenon.

FINDINGS

A reduction in crystallite size led to a significant decrease of intrusion and extrusion pressures below 100 nm. Simulations indicate that this behavior is due to a greater number of cages being in proximity to bulk water for smaller crystallites, allowing cross-cage hydrogen bonds to stabilize the intruded state and lower the threshold pressure of intrusion and extrusion. This is accompanied by a reduction in the overall intruded volume. Simulations demonstrate that this phenomenon is linked to ZIF-8 surface half-cages exposed to water being occupied by water due to non-trivial termination of the crystallites, even at atmospheric pressure.

Effect of the Topology on Wetting and Drying of Hydrophobic Porous Materials

Establishing molecular mechanisms of wetting and drying of hydrophobic porous materials is a general problem for science and technology within the subcategories of the theory of liquids, chromatography, nanofluidics, energy storage, recuperation, and dissipation. In this article, we demonstrate a new way to tackle this problem by exploring the effect of the topology of pure silica nanoparticles, nanotubes, and zeolites. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we show how secondary porosity promotes the intrusion of water into micropores and affects the hydrophobicity of materials. It is demonstrated herein that for nano-objects, the hydrophobicity can be controlled by changing the ratio of open to closed nanometer-sized lateral pores. This effect can be exploited to produce new materials for practical applications when the hydrophobicity needs to be regulated without significantly changing the chemistry or structure of the materials. Based on these simulations and theoretical considerations, for pure silica zeolites, we examined and then classified the experimental database of intrusion pressures, thus leading to the prediction of any zeolite's intrusion pressure. We show a correlation between the intrusion pressure and the ratio of the accessible pore surface area to total pore volume. The correlation is valid for some zeolites and mesoporous materials. It can facilitate choosing prospective candidates for further investigation and possible exploitation, especially for energy storage, recuperation, and dissipation.

Turning Molecular Springs into Nano-Shock Absorbers: The Effect of Macroscopic Morphology and Crystal Size on the Dynamic Hysteresis of Water Intrusion-Extrusion into-from Hydrophobic Nanopores

Controlling the pressure at which liquids intrude (wet) and extrude (dry) a nanopore is of paramount importance for a broad range of applications, such as energy conversion, catalysis, chromatography, separation, ionic channels, and many more. To tune these characteristics, one typically acts on the chemical nature of the system or pore size. In this work, we propose an alternative route for controlling both intrusion and extrusion pressures via proper arrangement of the grains of the nanoporous material. To prove the concept, dynamic intrusion-extrusion cycles for powdered and monolithic ZIF-8 metal-organic framework were conducted by means of water porosimetry and in operando neutron scattering. We report a drastic increase in intrusion-extrusion dynamic hysteresis when going from a fine powder to a dense monolith configuration, transforming an intermediate performance of the ZIF-8 + water system (poor molecular spring) into a desirable shock-absorber with more than 1 order of magnitude enhancement of dissipated energy per cycle. The obtained results are supported by MD simulations and pave the way for an alternative methodology of tuning intrusion-extrusion pressure using a macroscopic arrangement of nanoporous material.

Subnanometer Topological Tuning of the Liquid Intrusion/Extrusion Characteristics of Hydrophobic Micropores

Intrusion (wetting)/extrusion (drying) of liquids in/from lyophobic nanoporous systems is key in many fields, including chromatography, nanofluidics, biology, and energy materials. Here we demonstrate that secondary topological features decorating main channels of porous systems dramatically affect the intrusion/extrusion cycle. These secondary features, allowing an unexpected bridging with liquid in the surrounding domains, stabilize the water stream intruding a micropore. This reduces the intrusion/extrusion barrier and the corresponding pressures without altering other properties of the system. Tuning the intrusion/extrusion pressures via subnanometric topological features represents a yet unexplored strategy for designing hydrophobic micropores. Though energy is not the only field of application, here we show that the proposed tuning approach may bring 20-75 MPa of intrusion/extrusion pressure increase, expanding the applicability of hydrophobic microporous materials.

ResponZIF Structures: Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks as Stimuli-Responsive Materials

Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) have long been recognized as a prominent subset of the metal-organic framework (MOF) family, in part because of their ease of synthesis and good thermal and chemical stability, alongside attractive properties for diverse potential applications. Prototypical ZIFs like ZIF-8 have become embodiments of the significant promise held by porous coordination polymers as next-generation designer materials. At the same time, their intriguing property of experiencing significant structural changes upon the application of external stimuli such as temperature, mechanical pressure, guest adsorption, or electromagnetic fields, among others, has placed this family of MOFs squarely under the umbrella of stimuli-responsive materials. In this review, we provide an overview of the current understanding of the triggered structural and electronic responses observed in ZIFs (linker and bond dynamics, crystalline and amorphous phase changes, luminescence, etc.). We then describe the state-of-the-art experimental and computational methodology capable of shedding light on these complex phenomena, followed by a comprehensive summary of the stimuli-responsive nature of four prototypical ZIFs: ZIF-8, ZIF-7, ZIF-4, and ZIF-zni. We further expose the relevant challenges for the characterization and fundamental understanding of responsive ZIFs, including how to take advantage of their flexible properties for new application avenues.

The Effect of Surface Entropy on the Heat of Non-Wetting Liquid Intrusion into Nanopores

On-demand access to renewable and environmentally friendly energy sources is critical to address current and future energy needs. To achieve this, the development of new mechanisms of efficient thermal energy storage (TES) is important to improve the overall energy storage capacity. Demonstrated here is the ideal concept that the thermal effect of developing a solid-liquid interface between a non-wetting liquid and hydrophobic nanoporous material can store heat to supplement current TES technologies. The fundamental macroscopic property of a liquid's surface entropy and its relationship to its solid surface are one of the keys to predict the magnitude of the thermal effect by the development of the liquid-solid interface in a nanoscale environment-driven through applied pressure. Demonstrated here is this correlation of these properties with the direct measurement of the thermal effect of non-wetting liquids intruding into hydrophobic nanoporous materials. It is shown that the model can resonably predict the heat of intrusion into rigid mesoporous silica and some microporous zeolite when the temperature dependence of the contact angle is applied. Conversely, intrusion into flexible microporous metal-organic frameworks requires further improvement. The reported results with further development have the potential to lead to the development of a new supplementary method and mechanim for TES.

Effect of Extra Gas Amount on Liquid Outflow from Hydrophobic Nanochannels: Enhanced Liquid-Gas Interaction and Bubble Nucleation

Understanding liquid motion in nanoenvironment is of fundamental importance in nanofluidics-based systems. While the liquid outflow from hydrophobic nanochannels can significantly affect system performance, its underlying mechanism remains unclear so far. Here, we present an experimental study of the gas-phase effect on liquid outflow behavior from hydrophobic nanochannels in a liquid nanofoam (LN) system. Four LN samples, consisting of same liquid-solid composition but different amounts of the gas phase, are characterized by cyclic quasi-static compression tests. A remarkable difference in the LN system reusability has been observed, indicating that the liquid outflow behavior is highly sensitive to the amount of the gas phase. As the gas amount increases, the degree of liquid outflow from hydrophobic nanochannels is considerably promoted. This promotive effect is because of the suppression of gas outflow and acceleration of bubble nucleation in the nanochannels. These fundamental findings open a new perspective on liquid outflow behavior and can facilitate the design of reusable nanofluidics-based energy absorbers.

Effect of Flexibility and Nanotriboelectrification on the Dynamic Reversibility of Water Intrusion into Nanopores: Pressure-Transmitting Fluid with Frequency-Dependent Dissipation Capability

In this article, the effect of a porous material's flexibility on the dynamic reversibility of a nonwetting liquid intrusion was explored experimentally. For this purpose, high-pressure water intrusion together with high-pressure in situ small-angle neutron scattering were applied for superhydrophobic grafted silica and two metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with different flexibility [ZIF-8 and Cu₂(tebpz) (tebpz = 3,3',5,5'tetraethyl-4,4'-bipyrazolate)]. These results established the relation between the pressurization rate, water intrusion-extrusion hysteresis, and porous materials' flexibility. It was demonstrated that the dynamic hysteresis of water intrusion into superhydrophobic nanopores can be controlled by the flexibility of a porous material. This opens a new area of applications for flexible MOFs, namely, a smart pressure-transmitting fluid, capable of dissipating undesired vibrations depending on their frequency. Finally, nanotriboelectric experiments were conducted and the results showed that a porous material's topology is important for electricity generation while not affecting the dynamic hysteresis at any speed.

A graphene-based smart thermal conductive system regulated by a reversible pressure-induced mechanism

Thermal dissipation and thermal insulation are important for maintaining the normal operation of devices, extending the service life of instruments, ensuring efficient energy utilization, and improving temperature-related human comfort. Yet it is difficult to achieve both the functions of thermal dissipation and thermal insulation in a single material with a specific thermal conductivity under specific conditions. In this work, based on the huge difference in thermal conductivity between air and reduced graphene oxide (rGO), a pressure-induced mechanism is used to regulate the amount of air inside an rGO foam, so that a periodic reversible change of thermal conductivity can be realized, achieving the dual functions of thermal dissipation and thermal insulation to meet the requirements of different application scenarios. Further fitting calculations suggest that the thermal conductivity of rGO foam is positively and negatively associated with the applied pressure and temperature, respectively, and it can be calculated for given pressure and temperature conditions. The pressure-induced reversible regulation of thermal conductivity in rGO foam provides a new design construct for smart thermal-management devices, and a new direction of application for 2D materials.

Liquid Intrusion into Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-7 Nanocrystals: Exposing the Roles of Phase Transition and Gate Opening to Enable Energy Absorption Applications

Liquid intrusion into zeolitic imidazolate framework 7 (ZIF-7) has been observed for the first time. Among the three typical phases of ZIF-7, we discover that only the guest-free ZIF-7-II structure can be intruded by mechanical pressure, and intriguingly, this pressurized liquid intrusion behavior is detected only in nanocrystals, indicating the crystal size effect. Because of its unique combination of non-outflow property and high intrusion pressure, water intrusion into ZIF-7-II generates a marked energy dissipation capacity of ∼2 J/g despite its limited pore volume. We present several strategies that can be easily implemented to tune its intrusion pressure and energy dissipation and accomplish material reusability. Remarkably, we found that the pore cavities of ZIF-7-II can accommodate water molecules without experiencing any phase transition, which is entirely different from other solvents whose incorporation will trigger a spontaneous conversion into ZIF-7-I. Our pressure-vs-volume data further reveal that the process of water infiltration and retainment is controlled by the gate-opening/closing mechanism, which has enabled us to probe the viscoelasticity of ZIF-7 via cyclic liquid intrusion experiments. This study has deepened our understanding of the time-dependent mechanical properties of ZIFs and shed new light on the structural flexibility central to the novel applications of metal-organic framework materials.