Fluorinated Carbide-Derived Carbon: More Hydrophilic, Yet Apparently More Hydrophobic

Highly Fluorinated Nanospace in Porous Organic Salts with High Water Stability/Capability and Proton Conductivity

Water in hydrophobic nanospaces shows specific dynamic properties different from bulk water. The investigation of these properties is important in various research fields, including materials science, chemistry, and biology. The elucidation of the correlation between properties of water and hydrophobic nanospaces requires nanospaces covered only with simple hydrophobic group (e.g., fluorine) without impurities such as metals. This work successfully fabricated all-organic diamondoid porous organic salts (d-POSs) with highly fluorinated nanospaces, wherein hydrophobic fluorine atoms are densely exposed on the void surfaces, by combining fluorine substituted triphenylmethylamine (TPMA) derivatives with tetrahedral tetrasulfonic acid. This d-POSs with a highly fluorinated nanospace significantly improved their water stability, retaining their crystal structure even when immersed in water over one week. Moreover, this highly hydrophobic and fluorinated nanospace adsorbs 160 mL(STP)/g of water vapor at Pe/P0=0.90; this is the first hydrophobic nanospace, which water molecules can enter, in an all-organic porous material. Furthermore, this highly fluorinated nanospace exhibits very high proton conductivity (1.34×10-2 S/cm) at 90 °C and 95 % RH. POSs with tailorable nanospaces may significantly advance the elucidation of the properties of specific "water" in pure hydrophobic environments.

Tuning of Microenvironment in Covalent Organic Framework via Fluorination Strategy promotes Selective CO2 Capture

Herein, we have designed and synthesized two heteroatom (N, O) rich covalent organic frameworks (COF), PD-COF and TF-COF, respectively, to demonstrate their relative effect on CO₂ adsorption capacity and also CO₂ /N₂ selectivity. Compared to the non-fluorinated PD-COF (BET surface area 805 m²  g^-1 , total pore volume 0.3647 ccg^-1 ), a decrease in BET surface area and also pore volume have been observed for fluorinated TF-COF due to the incorporation of fluorine to the porous framework (BET surface area 451 m²  g^-1 , total pore volume 0.2978 ccg^-1 ). This fact leads to an enormous decrease in the CO₂ adsorption capacity and CO₂ /N₂ selectivity of TF-COF, though it shows stronger affinity towards CO₂ with a Qst of 37.76 KJ/mol. The more CO₂ adsorption capacity by PD-COF can be attributed to the large specific surface area with considerable amount of micropore volume compared to the TF-COF. Further, PD-COF exhibited CO₂ /N₂ selectivity of 16.8, higher than that of TF-COF (CO₂ /N₂ selectivity 13.4).

Performance-Based Screening of Porous Materials for Carbon Capture

Computational screening methods have changed the way new materials and processes are discovered and designed. For adsorption-based gas separations and carbon capture, recent efforts have been directed toward the development of multiscale and performance-based screening workflows where we can go from the atomistic structure of an adsorbent to its equilibrium and transport properties at different scales, and eventually to its separation performance at the process level. The objective of this work is to review the current status of this new approach, discuss its potential and impact on the field of materials screening, and highlight the challenges that limit its application. We compile and introduce all the elements required for the development, implementation, and operation of multiscale workflows, hence providing a useful practical guide and a comprehensive source of reference to the scientific communities who work in this area. Our review includes information about available materials databases, state-of-the-art molecular simulation and process modeling tools, and a complete catalogue of data and parameters that are required at each stage of the multiscale screening. We thoroughly discuss the challenges associated with data availability, consistency of the models, and reproducibility of the data and, finally, propose new directions for the future of the field.

Influence of Fluorine Doping of Activated Carbon Fibers on Their Water Vapor Adsorption Characteristics

The characterization of fluorinated carbon fibers by water sorption has been broadly investigated in this work. In brief, a pitch-based activated carbon fiber (ACF) was submitted to a fluorination process under different conditions of partial pressure (F₂:N₂ ratio) and temperature. This led to samples with varied fluorine content and C-F type bonding. The effect of the fluorination treatment on the textural properties of the ACF was studied by means of nitrogen and carbon dioxide adsorption at −196 and 0°C, respectively, while the changes induced in the surface chemistry of the materials were analyzed by XPS. Also, the affinity and stability of the materials toward water was evaluated by single and cycling isotherms. The obtained results show that a mild fluorination not only can preserve most of the textural properties of the parent ACF, but enhance the water uptake at the first stages of the water sorption process, together with a shift in the upswing of the water isotherms toward lower relative humidities. This indicates that fluorination under certain conditions can actually enhance the surface hydrophilicity of carbon materials with specific properties. On the contrary, higher partial pressures led to highly fluorinated fibers with lower porosity and more hydrophobic character. Moreover, they presented a lower chemical stability as demonstrated by a change in the shape of the water isotherms after two consecutive measurements. The kinetics of water sorption in the ACFs provided further insights into the different sorption phenomena involved. Hence, water sorption can definitely help to tailor the water affinity, stability and performance of fluorinated porous carbon materials under humid conditions.

Powdery polymer and carbon aerogels with high surface areas for high-performance solid phase microextraction coatings

A novel powdery polymer aerogel (PPA) with a hierarchical pore structure was prepared via hypercrosslinking of monodisperse poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) nanoparticles. Subsequently, the PPA was carbonized to obtain a powdery carbon aerogel (PCA) with a well-inherited pore structure and a much higher surface area (2354 m² g^-1). The PPA-coated and PCA-coated fibers were easily fabricated benefiting from the powdery morphologies of PPA and PCA, and demonstrated high extraction efficiencies towards hydrophobic analytes owing to their functional groups, unique three-dimensional (3D) porous nanonetworks and high surface areas.

Introducing DDEC6 atomic population analysis: part 2. Computed results for a wide range of periodic and nonperiodic materials

DDEC6 atomic population analysis gives excellent performance for small and large molecules, porous solids, dense solids, solid surfaces, organometallic complexes, nanoclusters, and magnetic materials.