A robust soc-MOF platform exhibiting high gravimetric uptake and volumetric deliverable capacity for on-board methane storage

Emerging as an outperformed class of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), square-octahedron (soc) topology MOFs (soc-MOFs) feature superior properties of high porosity, large gas storage capacity, and excellent thermal/chemical stability. We report here an iron based soc-MOF, denoted as Fe-pbpta (H4pbpta = 4,4′,4″,4‴-(1,4-phenylenbis(pyridine-4,2-6-triyl))-tetrabenzoic acid) possessing a very high Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) surface area of 4,937 m2/g and a large pore volume of 2.15 cm3/g. The MOF demonstrates by far the highest gravimetric uptake of 369 cm3(STP)/g under the DOE operational storage conditions (35 bar and 298 K) and a high volumetric deliverable capacity of 192 cc/cc at 298 K and 65 bar. Furthermore, Fe-pbpta exhibits high thermal and aqueous stability making it a promising candidate for on-board methane storage.