Prediction of adsorption of small molecules in porous materials based on <Emphasis Type="Italic">ab initio</Emphasis> force field method

Computational prediction of adsorption of small molecules in porous materials has great impact on the basic and applied research in chemical engineering and material sciences. In this work, we report an approach based on grand canonical ensemble Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations and ab initio force fields. We calculated the adsorption curves of ammonia in ZSM-5 zeolite and hydrogen in MOF-5 (a metal-organic-framework material). The predictions agree well with experimental data. Because the predictions are based on the first principle force fields, this approach can be used for the adsorption prediction of new molecules or materials without experimental data as guidance. Supported by the National “973” Program (Grant No. 2007CB209701, 2003CB615804)