Finely Tuned Porous Coordination Polymers To Boost Methane Separation Efficiency

Absorbents with high breakthrough efficiency and weak host–guest interaction are considered to be promising candidates for an energy-saving process in feasible pressure/volume swing adsorption (PSA/VSA). Herein, two groups of finely designed Fe- and Co-based porous coordination polymers (PCPs) are proposed and validated; these possess hourglass-shaped nanochannels, through the cooperation of T-shaped ligands with shifted methyl groups. Featuring optimal nanochannels, high static adsorption, and relatively lower binding energy, one of these polymers, named NTU-30, enables significant C₂H₆/CH₄ and C₂H₄/CH₄ breakthrough efficiency, with approximately 1.0 or 0.6 g CH₄ (100 %) harvested from the corresponding mixtures using 1 g of sample at ambient temperature. Furthermore, the positive effect of aromatic sites within NTU-30 is detected and investigated through an in situ IR study.     

NOVEL SYNTHESIS OF ULTRAFINE HOURGLASS-SHAPED ALUMINUM HYDROXIDE PARTICLES

In a novel method for synthesizing ultrafine aluminum hydroxide particles presented in this paper, the morphology and crystal structure of the particles were investigated by TEM, XRD, etc. The process consisted of two steps： chemical precipitation by acid and carbonation. The product has an hourglass or half-hourglass morphology with a narrow size distribution of 150-200 nm. Major endothermal peak of decomposition was found at 270℃ by differential thermal analysis. X-ray diffraction identified the product as bayerite. Those properties were compared with those of alusminum hydroxide prepared by carbonization only.