Hyper-thin organic membranes with exceptional H2/CO2 permeation selectivity: importance of ionic crosslinking and self-healing

Single Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) bilayers derived from calix[n]arene-based surfactants (n = 4, 5 and 6) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) exhibit exceptional H(2)/CO(2) permeation selectivities. Evidence for the importance of ionic crosslinking and self-healing processes is presented.     

Persistent organic room temperature phosphorescence: what is the role of molecular dimers?

Molecular dimers have been frequently found to play an important role in room temperature phosphorescence (RTP), but its inherent working mechanism has remained unclear. Herein a series of unique characteristics, including singlet excimer emission and thermally activated delayed fluorescence, were successfully integrated into a new RTP luminogen of CS-2COOCH₃ to clearly reveal the excited-state process of RTP and the special role of molecular dimers in persistent RTP emission.

The first purely organic room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) luminogen, with singlet excimer emission and thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) effect, was successfully developed.      

Enhanced CO2-selective behavior of Pebax-1657: A comparative study between the influence of graphene-based fillers

Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) containing graphene-based fillers have attracted considerable attention in the field of gas separation. In this study, two types of graphene derivatives (Graphene (G) and Graphene Oxide (GO)) were embedded into the poly-ether-block-amide (Pebax) based MMM to investigate and compare CO₂/N₂ separation at various filler loadings (0.3–1 wt%). The morphologies of the prepared neat Pebax and MMMs were characterized by SEM, XRD, FTIR and DSC. Compared with the neat Pebax, the permeability of all gases was increased by adding filler content in the MMMs due to the crystallinity decrement of the polyamide (PA) segment. The best separation performance of the Pebax/G MMMs occurred at 0.7 wt%, where the CO₂ permeability increased from 26.51 to 44.78 Barrer (~1.7 times). Also, for the Pebax/GO MMMs, the CO₂ permeability was increased up to 58.96 Barrer (~2.2 times) by adding 0.5 wt% filler. This further gas permeation increment for the Pebax/GO sample was attributed to the higher affinity of GO nanosheets to CO₂ sorption, which can facilitate CO₂ gas transition through the membrane matrix. Moreover, the CO₂/N₂ ideal selectivity increased from 74.26 for the neat Pebax to 111.95 (~1.5 times) and 120.72 (~1.62 times) by adding 0.7 wt% G (Pebax/G-0.7) and 1 wt% GO (Pebax/GO-1) into Pebax, respectively. As a consequence, graphene derivatives can be recognized as a promising developer of permselectivity (permeability and selectivity) of the MMMs.     

Metal–ligand bond strength determines the fate of organic ligands on the catalyst surface during the electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction

Colloidally synthesised nanocrystals (NCs) are increasingly utilised as catalysts to drive both thermal and electrocatalytic reactions. Their well-defined size and shape, controlled by organic ligands, are ideal to identify the parameters relevant to the activity, selectivity and stability in catalysis. However, the impact of the native surface ligands during catalysis still remains poorly understood, as does their fate. CuNCs are among the state-of-the-art catalysts for the electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR). In this work, we study CuNCs that are capped by different organic ligands to investigate their impact on the catalytic properties. We show that the latter desorb from the surface at a cathodic potential that depends on their binding strength with the metal surface, rather than their own electroreduction potentials. By monitoring the evolving surface chemistry in situ, we find that weakly bound ligands desorb very rapidly while strongly bound ligands impact the catalytic performance. This work provides a criterion to select labile ligands versus ligands that will persist on the surface, thus offering opportunity for interface design.

The metal–ligand binding strength is a key parameter in determining the role and fate of the surface ligands on nanoparticle catalysts during the electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction.     

Highly efficient modulation of the electronic properties of organic semiconductors by surface doping with 2D molecular crystals

Doping is a critically important strategy to modulate the properties of organic semiconductors(OSCs) to improve their optoelectrical performances. Conventional bulk doping involves the incorporation of foreign molecular species(i.e., dopants) into the lattice of the host OSCs, and thus disrupts the packing of the host OSCs and induces structural defects, which tends to reduce the mobility and(or) the on/off ratio in organic field-effect transistors(OFETs). In this article, we report a highly efficient and highly controllable surface doping strategy utilizing 2D molecular crystals(2DMCs) as dopants to boost the mobility and to modulate the threshold voltage of OFETs. The amount of dopants, i.e., the thickness of the 2DMCs, is controlled at monolayer precision, enabling fine tuning of the electrical properties of the OSCs at unprecedented accuracy. As a result, a prominent increase of the average mobility from 1.31 to 4.71 cm~2 V~(-1) s~(-1) and a substantial reduction of the threshold voltage from -18.5 to -1.8 V are observed. Meanwhile, high on/off ratios of up to 10~8 are retained.     

Metal–organic frameworks as O2-selective adsorbents for air separations

Oxygen is a critical gas in numerous industries and is produced globally on a gigatonne scale, primarily through energy-intensive cryogenic distillation of air. The realization of large-scale adsorption-based air separations could enable a significant reduction in associated worldwide energy consumption and would constitute an important component of broader efforts to combat climate change. Certain small-scale air separations are carried out using N₂-selective adsorbents, although the low capacities, poor selectivities, and high regeneration energies associated with these materials limit the extent of their usage. In contrast, the realization of O₂-selective adsorbents may facilitate more widespread adoption of adsorptive air separations, which could enable the decentralization of O₂ production and utilization and advance new uses for O₂. Here, we present a detailed evaluation of the potential of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) to serve as O₂-selective adsorbents for air separations. Drawing insights from biological and molecular systems that selectively bind O₂, we survey the field of O₂-selective MOFs, highlighting progress and identifying promising areas for future exploration. As a guide for further research, the importance of moving beyond the traditional evaluation of O₂ adsorption enthalpy, ΔH, is emphasized, and the free energy of O₂ adsorption, ΔG, is discussed as the key metric for understanding and predicting MOF performance under practical conditions. Based on a proof-of-concept assessment of O₂ binding carried out for eight different MOFs using experimentally derived capacities and thermodynamic parameters, we identify two existing materials and one proposed framework with nearly optimal ΔG values for operation under user-defined conditions. While enhancements are still needed in other material properties, the insights from the assessments herein serve as a guide for future materials design and evaluation. Computational approaches based on density functional theory with periodic boundary conditions are also discussed as complementary to experimental efforts, and new predictions enable identification of additional promising MOF systems for investigation.

This Perspective summarizes progress in the development of O₂-selective metal–organic frameworks for adsorptive air separations and identifies key metrics and design considerations toward optimizing material performance for practical applications.     

Topology- and wavelength-governed CO2 reduction photocatalysis in molecular catalyst-metal–organic framework assemblies

Optimising catalyst materials for visible light-driven fuel production requires understanding complex and intertwined processes including light absorption and catalyst stability, as well as mass, charge, and energy transport. These phenomena can be uniquely combined (and ideally controlled) in porous host–guest systems. Towards this goal we designed model systems consisting of molecular complexes as catalysts and porphyrin metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) as light-harvesting and hosting porous matrices. Two MOF-rhenium molecule hybrids with identical building units but differing topologies (PCN-222 and PCN-224) were prepared including photosensitiser-catalyst dyad-like systems integrated via self-assembled molecular recognition. This allowed us to investigate the impact of MOF topology on solar fuel production, with PCN-222 assemblies yielding a 9-fold turnover number enhancement for solar CO₂-to-CO reduction over PCN-224 hybrids as well as a 10-fold increase compared to the homogeneous catalyst-porphyrin dyad. Catalytic, spectroscopic and computational investigations identified larger pores and efficient exciton hopping as performance boosters, and further unveiled a MOF-specific, wavelength-dependent catalytic behaviour. Accordingly, CO₂ reduction product selectivity is governed by selective activation of two independent, circumscribed or delocalised, energy/electron transfer channels from the porphyrin excited state to either formate-producing MOF nodes or the CO-producing molecular catalysts.

Two MOF molecular catalyst hybrids with differing topologies show mass and light transport governed photocatalysis. MOF-specific, irradiation wavelength-dependent product control is unlocked by switching between two energy/electron transfer channels.     

High CO2 uptake and selectivity by triptycene-derived benzimidazole-linked polymers

Successful incorporation of triptycene into benzimidazole-linked polymers leads to the highest CO(2) uptake (5.12 mmol g(-1), 273 K and 1 bar) by porous organic polymers and results in high CO(2)/N(2) (63) and CO(2)/CH(4) (8.4) selectivities.     

Tuning product selectivity in CO2 hydrogenation over metal-based catalysts

Conversion of CO₂ into chemicals is a promising strategy for CO₂ utilization, but its intricate transformation pathways and insufficient product selectivity still pose challenges. Exploiting new catalysts for tuning product selectivity in CO₂ hydrogenation is important to improve the viability of this technology, where reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) and methanation as competitive reactions play key roles in controlling product selectivity in CO₂ hydrogenation. So far, a series of metal-based catalysts with adjustable strong metal–support interactions, metal surface structure, and local environment of active sites have been developed, significantly tuning the product selectivity in CO₂ hydrogenation. Herein, we describe the recent advances in the fundamental understanding of the two reactions in CO₂ hydrogenation, in terms of emerging new catalysts which regulate the catalytic structure and switch reaction pathways, where the strong metal–support interactions, metal surface structure, and local environment of the active sites are particularly discussed. They are expected to enable efficient catalyst design for minimizing the deep hydrogenation and controlling the reaction towards the RWGS reaction. Finally, the potential utilization of these strategies for improving the performance of industrial catalysts is examined.

A series of metal oxide, phosphate, alloy, and carbide-based catalysts for selective CO₂ hydrogenation are summarized, showing their abilities to switch CO₂ methanation to RWGS.     

An ionic porous coordination framework exhibiting high CO2 affinity and CO2/CH4 selectivity

An ionic porous coordination polymer possessing partially exposed uncoordinated nitrogens exhibits strong interaction with CO(2) and high CO(2)/CH(4) selectivity, and the adsorption mechanism is illustrated by the structure of its CO(2)-loaded single-crystal.     

CO2高效资源化利用的高温熔盐电化学技术研究

高温熔融盐具有CO₂吸收容量大、电化学窗口宽、高温下反应动力学快等特点,是利用清洁电能大规模捕集和资源化利用CO₂颇具实用化潜力的电解液体系. 本文主要介绍作者课题组近十年关于高温熔盐CO₂捕集与电化学资源化转化(MSCC-ET)技术的相关研究工作,包括熔融盐电解质对CO₂的吸收、阴极过程动力学、电解条件对产物的影响、析氧阳极、电解过程能量效率和CO₂捕获潜力,并展望了MSCC-ET技术的发展前景.     

Coarse-grained modelling to predict the packing of porous organic cages

How molecules pack has vital ramifications for their applications as functional molecular materials. Small changes in a molecule''s functionality can lead to large, non-intuitive, changes in their global solid-state packing, resulting in difficulty in targeted design. Predicting the crystal structure of organic molecules from only their molecular structure is a well-known problem plaguing crystal engineering. Although relevant to the properties of many organic molecules, the packing behaviour of modular porous materials, such as porous organic cages (POCs), greatly impacts the properties of the material. We present a novel way of predicting the solid-state phase behaviour of POCs by using a simplistic model containing the dominant degrees of freedom driving crystalline phase formation. We employ coarse-grained simulations to systematically study how chemical functionality of pseudo-octahedral cages can be used to manipulate the solid-state phase formation of POCs. Our results support those of experimentally reported structures, showing that for cages which pack via their windows forming a porous network, only one phase is formed, whereas when cages pack via their windows and arenes, the phase behaviour is more complex. While presenting a lower computational cost route for predicting molecular crystal packing, coarse-grained models also allow for the development of design rules which we start to formulate through our results.

This work presents a novel method for predicting molecular crystal structure formation using coarse-grained modelling, enabling the development of design rules.     

Functionalizing porous aromatic frameworks with polar organic groups for high-capacity and selective CO2 separation: a molecular simulation study

Porous aromatic frameworks (PAFs) were recently synthesized with the highest surface area to date; one such PAF (PAF-1) has diamond-like structure with biphenyl building blocks and exhibits exceptional thermal and hydrothermal stabilities. Herein, we computationally design new PAFs by introducing polar organic groups to the biphenyl unit and then investigate their separating power toward CO(2) by using grand-canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations. Among these functional PAFs, we found that tetrahydrofuran-like ether-functionalized PAF-1 shows higher adsorption capacity for CO(2) at 1 bar and 298 K (10 mol per kilogram of adsorbent) and also much higher selectivities for CO(2)/CH(4), CO(2)/N(2), and CO(2)/H(2) mixtures when compared with the amine functionality. The electrostatic interactions are found to play a dominant role in the high CO(2) selectivities of functional PAFs, as switching off atomic charges would decrease the selectivity by an order of magnitude. This work suggests that functionalizing porous frameworks with tetrahydrofuran-like ether groups is a promising way to increase CO(2) adsorption capacity and selectivity, especially at ambient pressures.     

Highly selective organic fluorescent probe for azide ion: formation of a "molecular ring"

An indole based naphthalene derivative is reported as a highly selective fluorescent probe for azide ion in aqueous ethanol. The probe is applied for cell imaging of the N(3)(-) ion in contaminated living cells. Both experimental and theoretical studies have been performed to figure out the plausible mechanism of fluorescence enhancement of the probe upon binding with N(3)(-).     

Supported molecular catalysts for the heterogeneous CO2 electroreduction

The thorough understanding of homogeneous catalysis has triggered intense research activities on the immobilization of molecular catalysts for the heterogeneous CO₂ electroreduction. Herein, we discuss recent advances in the heterogeneous field with focus on the intrinsic effect coming from the catalyst structure and the extrinsic effect exerted by the catalyst immobilization strategy and support material on the catalytic performance.     

The importance of pH in controlling the selectivity of the electrochemical CO2 reduction

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Zirconium metal organic cages: From phosphate selective sensing to derivate forming

Luminescent metal organic cages (MOCs) have attracted great interest as a unique class of sensing substrates. In this work, intrinsically fluorescent Zr-MOCs were successfully used as fluorescent probes for the sensitive and selective detection of phosphate anions in water and real samples. When the ligand and Zr ion clusters form a cage, the intrinsic fluorescence of the ligand was tuned from high to weak emission due to the ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) effect, and this weakened fluorescence can be restored by the addition of phosphate. The degree of fluorescence enhancement is positively correlated with the added phosphate concentration, and the efficacy of this strategy is demonstrated by a linear phosphate detection range of 5–500 µmol/L and a detection limit of 1.06 µmol/L. We discuss the interaction between phosphate and Zr in scattering spectrum and MS, respectively. In comparison to phosphate adsorption on Zr-metal organic frameworks (MOFs), where phosphate connects different numbers of cages, both blocking the LMCT effect and causing the cages to aggregate. We also found that the phosphate displaces the ligand from the cage when the phosphate concentration is further expanded, resulting in the formation of new derivatives. This derivative was shown to be useful as a Lewis acid catalyst and as a rare earth ion adsorbent.     

Control of molecular interactions by the hollow of coordination cages

Coordination self-assembly entities have been demonstrated to be useful and powerful alternatives for the construction of predefined and well-organized architectures. Self-assembled coordination cages, which possess an inner hydrophobic cavity, can be utilized to move substrates closer by encapsulation so enabling their interaction with each other and exhibiting of non-classical physical properties.