Engineering the pore size of interpenetrated metal–organic frameworks for molecular sieving separation of C 2 H 2 /C 2 H 4

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Materials for energy and sustainability, 2024
• Main Authors: Wang, Pengxiang, Shang, Shuangqing, Xiong, Hanting, Liu, Xing, Liu, Junhui, Shuai, Hua, Wang, Lingmin, Zhu, Zhenglong, Zhao, Zhiwei, Peng, Yong, Chen, Jingwen, Chen, Shixia, Zhou, Zhenyu, Wang, Jun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/D4TA06511E

Selective removal of acetylene (C 2 H 2 ) from ethylene (C 2 H 4 ) presents considerable challenges due to their extremely close molecular size and physical properties. Herein, we successfully prepared two novel isomorphous interpenetrated adsorbents, i.e. Zn-SDBA-dpe and Zn-SDBA-bpy (SDBA = 4,4′-sulfonyldibenzoic acid, dpe = 4,4′-vinylenedipyridine, bpy = 4,4′-bipyridyl), for molecular sieving of C 2 H 2 from C 2 H 4 . The uniform interpenetration of Zn-SDBA-bpy possessing contracted and suitable cavities only allows the diffusion of C 2 H 2 , while excluding C 2 H 4 molecules. As a result, Zn-SDBA-bpy exhibits an exceptional C 2 H 2 /C 2 H 4 uptake ratio of 11.93, and remarkable selectivities of 936.7 and 229.9 for the 50/50 and 1/99 C 2 H 2 /C 2 H 4 mixtures, respectively. Dynamic breakthrough experiments further corroborate its superior feasibility for C 2 H 2 /C 2 H 4 separation. Moreover, computational simulations reveal the multiple host–guest interactions for C 2 H 2 and the underlying mechanism of molecular sieving within Zn-SDBA-bpy.