A METAL-ORGANIC material (MOM) with a porous structure offers a more efficient, less expensive and more sustainable mechanism for carbon dioxide capture and separation, according to chemists at the University of South Florida (USF), Tampa, and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. SIFSIX-1-Cu, the material the USF-KAUST team developed, contains a metal center coordinated to a multifunctional organic ligand in a three-dimensional lattice, and provides extensive surface area. Unlike existing materials, it resists water, says USF chemistry professor Mike Zaworotko, who led the project. By control of pore functionality and size, the material attains the "sweet spot" of kinetics and thermodynamics, offering high volumetric uptake at low CO2 partial pressure, say the researchers. More importantly, they add, it offers unprecedented CO2 sorption selectivity over N2, H2 and CH4, even in the presence of moisture. More details appear in a recent article in Nature.
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