Room Temperature Reduction of Nitrogen Oxide on Iron Metal-Organic Frameworks

Nitrogen oxides represent one of the main threats for the environment. Despite decades of intensive research efforts, a sustainable solution for NOx removal under environmental conditions is still undefined. Using theoretical modelling, material design, state-of-the-art investigation methods and mimicking enzymes, it is found that selected porous hybrid iron(II/III) based MOF material are able to decompose NOx, at room temperature, in the presence of water and oxygen, into N2 and O2 and without reducing agents. This paves the way to the development of new highly sustainable heterogeneous catalysts to improve air quality. Mimicking a natural enzyme, a sustainable, reducible iron MOF is able to selectively decompose NO and NO2 into N2 and O2 in ambient conditions, without any reducing agent. This contributes to solve a long-standing problem in air purification and emissions control, opens new perspectives in heterogeneous catalysis and bridges the gap between homogeneous, enzymatic and heterogeneous catalysis. image