Large uniform copper 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate metal-organic-framework particles from slurry crystallization and their outstanding CO2 gas adsorption capacity

Abstract

To prepare more and better metal organic frameworks (MOFs) from less solvent for capturing greenhouse gas, a modified slurry crystallization (MSC) method has been first demonstrated for making MOF copper 1, 3, 5-benzenetricarboxylate from a solvent-deficient system. One outstanding advantage is its drastic reduction of solvent consumption and waste liquid in the whole synthesis. In a typical process, the mass ratio of ethanol to the solid reactants is ∼0.52, which is only about 0.35%–7.5% of that used in conventional processes. A high yield of ∼98.0% is easily achieved for the product with uniform size up to 160 μm. The obtained MOFs demonstrate the characteristic microporous network with a surface area of ∼1851 m2 g−1 and a pore volume of ∼0.78 cm3 g−1, which benefit to adsorb high quantity of CO2 ∼ 6.73 mol kg−1 at ordinary pressure. X-ray diffraction studies indicate that the MOFs possess an outstanding diffraction intensity ratio of the crystal plane (2, 2, 2) to (2, 0, 0), I(222)/I(200) = 22.4. The MSC method provides a cost-effective approach for large-scale production of MOFs with more attractive properties than others. Most importantly, it can significantly cut down the waste liquid and production cost.