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Title: Temperature-regulated guest admission and release in microporous materials

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15777· OSTI ID:1374884
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [1];  [5];  [4]; ORCiD logo [6];  [5]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Univ. of Western Australia, Crawley, WA (Australia). Centre for Energy
  2. City Univ. of Hong Kong (China). School of Energy and Environmental Catalysis; Univ. of Melbourne (Australia). Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
  3. Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Clayton, VIC (Australia). Australian Synchrotron
  4. Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States). School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
  5. Univ. of Melbourne (Australia). Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
  6. Monash Univ., Melbourne, VIC (Australia). Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

While it has long been known that some highly adsorbing microporous materials suddenly become inaccessible to guest molecules below certain temperatures, previous attempts to explain this phenomenon have failed. Here we show that this anomalous sorption behaviour is a temperature-regulated guest admission process, where the pore-keeping group’s thermal fluctuations are influenced by interactions with guest molecules. A physical model is presented to explain the atomic-level chemistry and structure of these thermally regulated micropores, which is crucial to systematic engineering of new functional materials such as tunable molecular sieves, gated membranes and controlled-release nanocontainers. The model was validated experimentally with H2, N2, Ar and CH4 on three classes of microporous materials: trapdoor zeolites, supramolecular host calixarenes and metal-organic frameworks. We also demonstrate how temperature can be exploited to achieve appreciable hydrogen and methane storage in such materials without sustained pressure. Our findings also open new avenues for gas sensing and isotope separation.

Research Organization:
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Understanding and Control of Acid Gas-induced Evolution of Materials for Energy (UNCAGE-ME)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012577; DE140101824; DP130103708; IC150100019
OSTI ID:
1374884
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 8; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 58 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Data from: Temperature-regulated guest admission and release in microporous materials
  • Li, Gang Kevin; Shang, Jin; Gu, Qinfen
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Cited By (5)

An optimal trapdoor zeolite for exclusive admission of CO 2 at industrial carbon capture operating temperatures journal January 2018
Design and control of gas diffusion process in a nanoporous soft crystal journal January 2019
Engineering the pore environment of metal–organic framework membranes via modification of the secondary building unit for improved gas separation journal January 2020
Data from: Temperature-regulated guest admission and release in microporous materials
  • Li, Gang Kevin; Shang, Jin; Gu, Qinfen
  • Dryad Digital Repository-Supplementary information for journal article at DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15777, 3 CIF files https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2426m
dataset June 2017
Molecular Simulation of Naphthalene, Phenanthrene, and Pyrene Adsorption on MCM-41 journal February 2019


Figures / Tables (6)