Improvement of the CO2 Capture Capability of a Metal–Organic Framework by Encapsulating Dye Molecules inside the Mesopore Space

Abstract

Capturing CO2 to mitigate carbon emission is an outstanding challenge. The design and synthesis of new porous materials capable of selectively capturing CO2 are critical to sequestrate the rising atmospheric CO2. Herein we report a dye encapsulating approach to tune the CO2 capture capability of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). A new mesoporous MOF material CZJ-10 and three dye-encapsulated composite MOF materials RB@CZJ-10, CR@CZJ-10, and melanin@CZJ-10 are investigated for their ability to capture CO2. We show that the interior pore space of CZJ-10 can be functionalized with different dyes, which allow exploration of the effect of increasing CO2 uptakes of the MOF. This work offers a promising approach for the development of new composite materials to sequestrate CO2 molecules. Additionally, CZJ-10 demonstrates high catalytic efficiency on CO2 chemical conversion to form cyclic carbonate.