A Rationally Designed Nitrogen-Rich Metal-Organic Framework and Its Exceptionally High CO2 and H2 Uptake Capability

On the way towards a sustainable low-carbon future, the design and construction of chemical or physical adsorbents for CO2 capture and clean energy storage are vital technology. The incorporation of accessible nitrogen-donor sites into the pore walls of porous adsorbents can dramatically affect the CO2 uptake capacity and selectivity on account of the dipole-quadrupole interactions between the polarizable CO2 molecule and the accessible nitrogen site. In the present work, a nitrogen-rich rth-type metal-organic framework (MOF) was constructed based on rational design and careful synthesis. The MOF presents exceptionally high uptake capacity not only for CO2 but also for H-2, which is attributed to favorable interactions between the gas molecules and the nitrogen-rich triazole units of the MOF proved by both experimental measurements and theoretical molecular simulations.