Guest-Controlled Incommensurate Modulation in a Meta-Rigid Metal-Organic Framework Material

Tuning structural modulation and magnetic properties in metal-organic coordination polymers [CH3NH3]CoxNi1-x(HCOO)3

Three solid solutions of [CH3NH3]CoxNi1-x(HCOO)3, with x = 0.25 (1), x = 0.50 (2) and x = 0.75 (3), were synthesized and their nuclear structures and magnetic properties were characterized using single-crystal neutron diffraction and magnetization measurements. At room temperature, all three compounds crystallize in the Pnma orthorhombic space group, akin to the cobalt and nickel end series members. On cooling, each compound undergoes a distinct series of structural transitions to modulated structures. Compound 1 exhibits a phase transition to a modulated structure analogous to the pure Ni compound [Cañadillas-Delgado, L., Mazzuca, L., Fabelo, O., Rodríguez-Carvajal, J. & Petricek, V. (2020). Inorg. Chem. 59, 17896-17905], whereas compound 3 maintains the behaviour observed in the pure Co compound reported previously [Canadillas-Delgado, L., Mazzuca, L., Fabelo, O., Rodriguez-Velamazan, J. A. & Rodriguez-Carvajal, J. (2019). IUCrJ, 6, 105-115], although in both cases the temperatures at which the phase transitions occur differ slightly from the pure phases. Monochromatic neutron diffraction measurements showed that the structural evolution of 2 diverges from that of either parent compound, with competing hydrogen bond interactions that drive the modulation throughout the series, producing a unique sequence of phases. It involves two modulated phases below 96 (3) and 59 (3) K, with different q vectors, similar to the pure Co compound (with modulated phases below 128 and 96 K); however, it maintains the modulated phase below magnetic order [at 22.5 (7) K], resembling the pure Ni compound (which presents magnetic order below 34 K), resulting in an improper modulated magnetic structure. Despite these large-scale structural changes, magnetometry data reveal that the bulk magnetic properties of these solid solutions form a linear continuum between the end members. Notably, doping of the metal site in these solid solutions allows for tuning of bulk magnetic properties, including magnetic ordering temperature, transition temperatures and the nature of nuclear phase transitions, through adjustment of metal ratios.

Isomeric Porous Cu(I) Triazolate Frameworks Showing Periodic and Aperiodic Flexibility for Efficient CO Separation

Guest-induced (crystal-to-crystal) transformation, i.e., periodic flexibility, is a typical feature of molecule-based crystalline porous materials, but its role for adsorptive separation is controversial. On the other hand, aperiodic flexibility is rarely studied. This work reports a pair of isomeric Cu(I) triazolate frameworks, namely, α-[Cu(fetz)] (MAF-2Fa) and β-[Cu(fetz)] (MAF-2Fb), which show typical periodic and aperiodic flexibility for CO chemical adsorption, respectively. Quantitative mixture breakthrough experiments show that, while MAF-2Fa exhibits high adsorption capacity at high pressures but negligible adsorption below the threshold pressure and with leakage concentrations of 3-8%, MAF-2Fb exhibits relatively low adsorption capacity at high pressures but no leakage (residual CO concentration <1 ppb). Tandem connection of MAF-2Fa and MAF-2Fb can combine their advantages of high CO adsorption capacities at high and low pressures, respectively. MAF-2Fa and MAF-2Fb can both keep the separation performances unchanged at high relative humidities, but only MAF-2Fb shows a unique coadsorption behavior at a relative humidity of 82%, which can be used to improve purification performances.

High-Performance Porous Organic Polymers for Environmental Remediation of Toxic Gases

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is a harmful acidic gas generated from power plants and fossil fuel combustion and represents a significant health risk and threat to the environment. Benzimidazole-linked polymers (BILPs) have emerged as a promising class of porous solid adsorbents for toxic gases because of their chemical and thermal stability as well as the chemical nature of the imidazole moiety. The performance of BILPs in SO2 capture was examined by synergistic experimental and theoretical studies. BILPs exhibit a significantly high SO2 uptake of up to 8.5 mmol g-1 at 298 K and 1.0 bar. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations predict that this high SO2 uptake is due to the dipole-dipole interactions between SO2 and the functionalized polymer frames through O2S(δ+)···N(δ-)-imine and O═S═O(δ-)···H(δ+)-aryl and intermolecular attraction between SO2 molecules (O═S═O(δ-)···S(δ+)O2). Moderate isosteric heats of adsorption (Qst ≈ 38 kJ mol-1) obtained from experimental SO2 uptake studies are well supported by the DFT calculations (≈40 kJ mol-1), which suggests physisorption processes enabling rapid adsorbent regeneration for reuse. Repeated adsorption experiments with almost identical SO2 uptake confirm the easy regeneration and robustness of BILPs. Moreover, BILPs possess very high SO2 adsorption selectivity at low concentration over carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrogen (N2): SO2/CO2, 19-24; SO2/CH4, 118-113; SO2/N2, 600-674. This study highlights the potential of BILPs in the desulfurization of flue gas or other gas mixtures through capturing trace levels of SO2.

Analysis of a Cu-Doped Metal-Organic Framework, MFM-520(Zn1-x Cux ), for NO2 Adsorption

MFM-520(Zn) confines dimers of NO2 with a high adsorption of 4.52 mmol g-1 at 1 bar at 298 K. The synthesis and the incommensurate structure of Cu-doped MFM-520(Zn) are reported. The introduction of paramagnetic Cu2+ sites allows investigation of the electronic and geometric structure of metal site by in situ electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy upon adsorption of NO2 . By combining continuous wave and electron-nuclear double resonance spectroscopy, an unusual reverse Berry distorted coordination geometry of the Cu2+ centers is observed. Interestingly, Cu-doped MFM-520(Zn0.95 Cu0.05 ) shows enhanced adsorption of NO2 of 5.02 mmol g-1 at 1 bar at 298 K. Whereas MFM-520(Zn) confines adsorbed NO2 as N2 O4 , the presence of monomeric NO2 at low temperature suggests that doping with Cu2+ centers into the framework plays an important role in tuning the dimerization of NO2 molecules in the pore via the formation of specific host-guest interactions.

Brightening Blue Photoluminescence in Nonemission MOF-2 by Pressure Treatment Engineering

As equally essential as the synthesis of new materials, maneuvering new structure configurations can endow the brand-new functional properties to existing materials, which is also one of the core goals in the synthesis community. In this respect, pressure-induced emission (PIE) that triggers photoluminescence (PL) in nonemission materials is an emerging stimuli-responsive smart materials technology. In the PIE paradigms, harvesting bright PL at ambient conditions, however, has remained elusive. Herein, a remarkable PIE phenomenon is reported in initially nonemission Zn(BDC)(DMF)(H₂ O) (MOF-2), which shows bright blue-emission at 455 nm under pressure. Intriguingly, the bright blue PL with an excellent photoluminescence quantum yield up to 70.4% is unprecedentedly retained to ambient conditions upon decompression from 16.2 GPa. The detailed structural analyses combined with density functional theory calculations reveal that hydrogen bonding cooperativity effect elevates powerfully the rotational barrier of the linker rotor to 3.87 eV mol^-1 from initial 0.91 eV mol^-1 through pressure treatment. The downgrade rotational freedom turns on PL of MOF-2 after releasing pressure completely. This is the first case of harvesting PIE to ambient conditions. These findings offer a new platform for the creation of promising alternatives to high-performance PL materials based on initially nonemission counterparts.

Metal-Organic Frameworks for Greenhouse Gas Applications

Using petrol to supply energy for a car or burning coal to heat a building generates plenty of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including carbon dioxide (CO₂ ), water vapor (H₂ O), methane (CH₄ ), nitrous oxide (N₂ O), ozone (O₃ ), fluorinated gases. These up-and-coming metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are structurally endowed with rigid inorganic nodes and versatile organic linkers, which have been extensively used in the GHG-related applications to improve the lives and protect the environment. Porous MOF materials and their derivatives have been demonstrated to be competitive and promising candidates for GHG separation, storage and conversions as they shows facile preparation, large porosity, adjustable nanostructure, abundant topology, and tunable physicochemical property. Enormous progress has been made in GHG storage and separation intrinsically stemmed from the different interaction between guest molecule and host framework from MOF itself in the recent five years. Meanwhile, the use of porous MOF materials to transform GHG and the influence of external conditions on the adsorption performance of MOFs for GHG are also enclosed. In this review, it is also highlighted that the existing challenges and future directions are discussed and envisioned in the rational design, facile synthesis and comprehensive utilization of MOFs and their derivatives for practical applications.

Structural and Dynamic Analysis of Sulphur Dioxide Adsorption in a Series of Zirconium-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks

We report reversible high capacity adsorption of SO2 in robust Zr-based metal-organic framework (MOF) materials. Zr-bptc (H4 bptc=biphenyl-3,3',5,5'-tetracarboxylic acid) shows a high SO2 uptake of 6.2 mmol g-1 at 0.1 bar and 298 K, reflecting excellent capture capability and removal of SO2 at low concentration (2500 ppm). Dynamic breakthrough experiments confirm that the introduction of amine, atomically-dispersed CuII or heteroatomic sulphur sites into the pores enhance the capture of SO2 at low concentrations. The captured SO2 can be converted quantitatively to a pharmaceutical intermediate, aryl N-aminosulfonamide, thus converting waste to chemical values. In situ X-ray diffraction, infrared micro-spectroscopy and inelastic neutron scattering enable the visualisation of the binding domains of adsorbed SO2 molecules and host-guest binding dynamics in these materials at the atomic level. Refinement of the pore environment plays a critical role in designing efficient sorbent materials.

Porous lanthanide metal-organic frameworks with metallic conductivity

Metallic charge transport and porosity appear almost mutually exclusive. Whereas metals demand large numbers of free carriers and must have minimal impurities and lattice vibrations to avoid charge scattering, the voids in porous materials limit the carrier concentration, provide ample space for impurities, and create more charge-scattering vibrations due to the size and flexibility of the lattice. No microporous material has been conclusively shown to behave as a metal. Here, we demonstrate that single crystals of the porous metal-organic framework Ln1.5(2,3,6,7,10,11-hexaoxytriphenylene) (Ln = La, Nd) are metallic. The materials display the highest room-temperature conductivities of all porous materials, reaching values above 1,000 S/cm. Single crystals of the compounds additionally show clear temperature-deactivated charge transport, a hallmark of a metallic material. Lastly, a structural transition consistent with charge density wave ordering, present only in metals and rare in any materials, provides additional conclusive proof of the metallic nature of the materials. Our results provide an example of a metal with porosity intrinsic to its structure. We anticipate that the combination of porosity and chemical tunability that these materials possess will provide a unique handle toward controlling the unconventional states that lie within them, such as charge density waves that we observed, or perhaps superconductivity.

Zirconium and Aluminum MOFs for Low-Pressure SO2 Adsorption and Potential Separation: Elucidating the Effect of Small Pores and NH2 Groups

Finding new adsorbents for the desulfurization of flue gases is a challenging task but is of current interest, as even low SO₂ emissions impair the environment and health. Four Zr- and eight Al-MOFs (Zr-Fum, DUT-67(Zr), NU-1000, MOF-808, Al-Fum, MIL-53(Al), NH₂-MIL-53(Al), MIL-53(tdc)(Al), CAU-10-H, MIL-96(Al), MIL-100(Al), NH₂-MIL-101(Al)) were examined toward their SO₂ sorption capability. Pore sizes in the range of about 4-8 Å are optimal for SO₂ uptake in the low-pressure range (up to 0.1 bar). Pore widths that are only slightly larger than the kinetic diameter of 4.1 Å of the SO₂ molecules allow for multi-side-dispersive interactions, which translate into high affinity at low pressure. Frameworks NH₂-MIL-53(Al) and NH₂-MIL-101(Al) with an NH₂-group at the linker tend to show enhanced SO₂ affinity. Moreover, from single-gas adsorption isotherms, ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST) selectivities toward binary SO₂/CO₂ gas mixtures were determined with selectivity values between 35 and 53 at a molar fraction of 0.01 SO₂ (10.000 ppm) and 1 bar for the frameworks Zr-Fum, MOF-808, NH₂-MIL-53(Al), and Al-Fum. Stability tests with exposure to dry SO₂ during ≤10 h and humid SO₂ during 5 h showed full retention of crystallinity and porosity for Zr-Fum and DUT-67(Zr). However, NU-1000, MOF-808, Al-Fum, MIL-53(tdc), CAU-10-H, and MIL-100(Al) exhibited ≥50-90% retained Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET)-surface area and pore volume; while NH₂-MIL-100(Al) and MIL-96(Al) demonstrated a major loss of porosity under dry SO₂ and MIL-53(Al) and NH₂-MIL-53(Al) under humid SO₂. SO₂ binding sites were revealed by density functional theory (DFT) simulation calculations with adsorption energies of -40 to -50 kJ·mol^-1 for Zr-Fum and Al-Fum and even above -50 kJ·mol^-1 for NH₂-MIL-53(Al), in agreement with the isosteric heat of adsorption near zero coverage (ΔH_ads⁰). The predominant, highest binding energy noncovalent binding modes in both Zr-Fum and Al-Fum feature μ-OH^δ+···^δ-OSO hydrogen bonding interactions. The small pores of Al-Fum allow the interaction of two μ-OH bridges from opposite pore walls with the same SO₂ molecule via OH^δ+···^δ-OSO^δ-···^δ+HO hydrogen bonds. For NH₂-MIL-53(Al), the DFT high-energy binding sites involve NH^δ+···^δ-OS together with the also present Al-μ-OH^δ+···^δ-OS hydrogen bonding interactions and C₆-π^δ-···^δ+SO₂, N^δ-···^δ+SO₂ interactions.

Dynamics & Spectroscopy with Neutrons-Recent Developments & Emerging Opportunities

This work provides an up-to-date overview of recent developments in neutron spectroscopic techniques and associated computational tools to interrogate the structural properties and dynamical behavior of complex and disordered materials, with a focus on those of a soft and polymeric nature. These have and continue to pave the way for new scientific opportunities simply thought unthinkable not so long ago, and have particularly benefited from advances in high-resolution, broadband techniques spanning energy transfers from the meV to the eV. Topical areas include the identification and robust assignment of low-energy modes underpinning functionality in soft solids and supramolecular frameworks, or the quantification in the laboratory of hitherto unexplored nuclear quantum effects dictating thermodynamic properties. In addition to novel classes of materials, we also discuss recent discoveries around water and its phase diagram, which continue to surprise us. All throughout, emphasis is placed on linking these ongoing and exciting experimental and computational developments to specific scientific questions in the context of the discovery of new materials for sustainable technologies.

Preferential SOx Adsorption in Mg-MOF-74 from a Humid Acid Gas Stream

The preferential adsorption of SO_x versus water in Mg-MOF-74 from a humid SO_x gas stream has been investigated via materials studies and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Mg-MOF-74 has been synthesized and subsequently loaded simultaneously with water vapor and SO_x (62-96 ppm) in an adsorption chamber at room temperature over a time period of 4 days with a sample taken every 24 h. Each sample was analyzed by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)-mass spectrometry, and scanning electron microscopy-energy-dispersive spectroscopy. The metal-organic framework (MOF) showed retained crystallinity and peak intensity in PXRD, and after 2 days, it showed no obvious degradation to the structure. Use of multiple techniques, including TGA, identified 10% by weight of SO_x species, specifically H₂S and SO₂, within the MOF. ¹H solid-state NMR shows a substantial reduction of H₂O when SO_x is present, which is consistent with SO_x preferentially binding to the oxophilic metal site of the framework. After 14 weeks aging, the sulfur remains present in the three-dimensional MOF, with only half being desorbed after 23 weeks in air.