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A Microporous Metal-Organic Framework with Unique Aromatic Pore Surfaces for High Performance C2H6/C2H4 Separation |
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| Authors: | Dr. Yingxiang Ye Yi Xie Dr. Yanshu Shi Dr. Lingshan Gong Dr. Joshua Phipps Prof. Abdullah M. Al-Enizi Prof. Ayman Nafady Prof. Banglin Chen Prof. Shengqian Ma |
| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Chemistry, University of North Texas, 1508 W Mulberry St., Denton, TX, 76201 USA College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, 350007 China;2. Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX, 78249 USA;3. Department of Chemistry, University of North Texas, 1508 W Mulberry St., Denton, TX, 76201 USA;4. Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451 Saudi Arabia;5. College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, 350007 China |
| Abstract: | Developing adsorptive separation processes based on C2H6-selective sorbents to replace energy-intensive cryogenic distillation is a promising alternative for C2H4 purification from C2H4/C2H6 mixtures, which however remains challenging. During our studies on two isostructural metal–organic frameworks ( Ni-MOF 1 and Ni-MOF 2 ), we found that Ni-MOF 2 exhibited significantly higher performance for C2H6/C2H4 separation than Ni-MOF-1 , as clearly established by gas sorption isotherms and breakthrough experiments. Density-Functional Theory (DFT) studies showed that the unblocked unique aromatic pore surfaces within Ni-MOF 2 induce more and stronger C−H⋅⋅⋅π with C2H6 over C2H4 while the suitable pore spaces enforce its high C2H6 uptake capacity, featuring Ni-MOF 2 as one of the best porous materials for this very important gas separation. It generates 12 L kg−1 of polymer-grade C2H4 product from equimolar C2H6/C2H4 mixtures at ambient conditions. |
| Keywords: | Aromatic Pore Surfaces C2H6/C2H4 Separation Gas Adsorption Metal–Organic Framework |