The discrimination of ethylene (C2H4) and ethane (C2H6) by the precise regulation of porous materials is important and challenging. In this work, the quasi-exclusion of C2H6 from C2H4 is realized through a facile polymer modification and shaping method of metal-organic framework ZnAtzPO4 (Atz = 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole). The polymer (carboxymethyl cellulose, CMC) modification and shaping of ZnAtzPO4@CMC result in pore contraction and particle size enlargement, which impedes the diffusion of larger C2H6 molecules and improves the kinetic separation of C2H4/C2H6. The C2H6 capacity decreases steeply from 1.63 (ZnAtzPO4 powder) to 0.27 mmolg-1 (ZnAtzPO4@CMC), and the resulting C2H4/C2H6 uptake ratio increases from 1.38 to 6.67. Kinetic adsorption experiments confirm that ZnAtzPO4@CMC presents a negligible C2H6 dynamic capacity and the diffusion difference between C2H4 and C2H6 is amplified significantly. The corresponding kinetic C2H4/C2H6 separation selectivity of ZnAtzPO4@CMC increases from 13.06 (ZnAtzPO4) to 34.67, superior to the most reported benchmark materials. Furthermore, ZnAtzPO4@CMC exhibits excellent breakthrough performance for equimolar C2H4/C2H6 mixture separation. This study provides guidance to discriminate similar gases through polymer modification of MOFs.
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