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De novo synthesis of a metal–organic framework material featuring ultrahigh surface area and gas storage capacities

Nature Chemistry volume 2, pages 944–948 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Metal–organic frameworks—a class of porous hybrid materials built from metal ions and organic bridges—have recently shown great promise for a wide variety of applications. The large choice of building blocks means that the structures and pore characteristics of the metal–organic frameworks can be tuned relatively easily. However, despite much research, it remains challenging to prepare frameworks specifically tailored for particular applications. Here, we have used computational modelling to design and predictively characterize a metal–organic framework (NU-100) with a particularly high surface area. Subsequent experimental synthesis yielded a material, matching the calculated structure, with a high BET surface area (6,143 m2 g−1). Furthermore, sorption measurements revealed that the material had high storage capacities for hydrogen (164 mg g−1) and carbon dioxide (2,315 mg g−1)—gases of high importance in the contexts of clean energy and climate alteration, respectively—in excellent agreement with predictions from modelling.

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Figure 1: Structural features of NU-100.
Figure 2: TGA and PXRD profiles.
Figure 3: Photographic images of NU-10.
Figure 4: Sorption data for the simulated and synthesized NU-100.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (HDTRA1-08-C-005), the Department of Energy (DE-FG36-08GO18137 and DE-FG02-08ER15967), the National Science Foundation (EEC-0647560) and Argonne National Lab (supercomputing time on Carbon cluster).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and International Institute for Nanotechnology, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, 60208, Illinois, USA

    Omar K. Farha, Ibrahim Eryazici, Christos D. Malliakas, Brad G. Hauser, Mercouri G. Kanatzidis, SonBinh T. Nguyen & Joseph T. Hupp

  2. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, 60208, Illinois, USA

    A. Özgür Yazaydın & Randall Q. Snurr

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  1. Omar K. Farha
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Contributions

O.K.F. and A.Ö.Y. designed the research. A.Ö.Y. performed the simulations with advice and assistance from R.Q.S. O.K.F. and I.E. synthesized LH6 with general synthesis advice from S.T.N. O.K.F. synthesized NU-100. O.K.F. and B.G.H. performed the physical measurements. C.D.M. was responsible for solving the crystal structure with assistance from M.G.K. J.T.H. contributed to the development of the general MOF-activation methodology and assisted with data interpretation. All authors discussed the results, contributed to writing the manuscript and commented on it.

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Correspondence to Randall Q. Snurr or Joseph T. Hupp.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Crystallographic data for MOF NU-100 (CIF 17 kb)

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Farha, O., Özgür Yazaydın, A., Eryazici, I. et al. De novo synthesis of a metal–organic framework material featuring ultrahigh surface area and gas storage capacities. Nature Chem 2, 944–948 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.834

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