A high surface area Zr(IV)-based metal–organic framework showing stepwise gas adsorption and selective dye uptake

Abstract

Exploitation of new metal–organic framework (MOF) materials with high surface areas has been attracting great attention in related research communities due to their broad potential applications. In this work, a new Zr(IV)-based MOF, [Zr6O4(OH)4(eddb)6] (BUT-30, H2eddb=4,4′-(ethyne-1,2-diyl)dibenzoic acid) has been solvothermally synthesized, characterized, and explored for gases and dyes adsorptions. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis demonstrates a three-dimensional cubic framework structure of this MOF, in which each Zr6O4(OH)4 building unit is linked by 12 linear eddb ligands. BUT-30 has been found stable up to 400°C and has a Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area as high as 3940.6m2g−1 (based on the N2 adsorption at 77K) and total pore volume of 1.55cm3g−1. It is more interesting that this MOF exhibits stepwise adsorption behaviors for Ar, N2, and CO2 at low temperatures, and selective uptakes towards different ionic dyes.