Control of interpenetration via in situ lithium incorporation in MOFs and their gas adsorption properties and selectivity

Lithium incorporation in metal-organic frameworks during solvothermal synthesis demonstrates a significant modification of the structure chemistry and surface properties of MOFs towards the adsorption selectivity of gas mixtures (CO2 and CH4) at ambient conditions. Variation of the lithium loading (xLi-MOF-5) led to tunability of the interpenetration resulting in materials with substantial differences in their properties. The behavior of xLi-MOF-5 was evaluated via phase identification based on XRD, functional group coordination using FTIR and adsorption measurements applying N-2, CO2 and CH4 gas adsorption/desorption analysis. These efforts give rise to a new strategy to tailor MOFs for high efficiency CO2 adsorption and separation.