Metal-organic frameworks for selective gas separation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand

Abstract

With an ever increasing need for a more energy-efficient and environmentally benign procedure for gas separation, adsorbents with tailored structures and tunable surface properties are in high demand. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), constructed from metalcontaining nodes connected by organic bridges, are such a new type of porous materials. They are promising candidates as adsorbents for gas separations due to their large surface areas, adjustable pore sizes and controllable properties, as well as acceptable thermal stability. However, the bottleneck in this context is that MOFs are expensive to be fabricated and majority of them are not stable in harsh environments, which are often required by industrial processes. In this thesis, we introduce three families of metal-organic frameworks with exceptional gas separation performance for a variety of different gas mixtures separation. Their unique separation performances are well supported by isotherm measurement, X-ray crystallography, DFT calculations, and breakthrough test. These MOFs are all readily synthesizable by inexpensive precursor and highly stable at extreme conditions.