Robust and Radiation-Resistant Hofmann-Type Metal-Organic Frameworks for Record Xenon/Krypton Separation

The discovery of high-performance adsorbents for highly efficient separation of xenon from krypton is an important but challenging task in the chemical industry due to their similar size and inert spherical nature. Herein, we report two robust and radiation-resistant Hofmann-type MOFs, Co(pyz)[Ni(CN)(4)] and Co(pyz)-[Pd(CN)(4)] (termed as ZJU-74a-Ni and ZJU-74a-Pd), featuring oppositely adjacent open metal sites and perfect pore sizes (4.1 and 3.8 angstrom) comparable to the kinetic diameter of xenon (4.047 angstrom), affording the benchmark binding affinity for polarizable Xe gas. These materials thus exhibit both record-high Xe uptake capacities (89.3 and 98.4 cm(3) cm(-3) at 296 K and 0.2 bar) and Xe/Kr selectivities (74.1 and 103.4) at ambient conditions, all of which are the highest among all the state-of-the-art materials reported so far. The locations of Xe molecules within ZJU-74a-Ni have been visualized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies, in which two oppositely adjacent metal centers combined with the right aperture size can construct a unique sandwich-like binding site to offer unprecedented and ultrastrong Ni2+-Xe-Ni2+ interactions with xenon, thus leading to the record Xe capture capacity and selectivity. The excellent separation capacity of ZJU-74a-Pd was verified by breakthrough experiments for Xe/Kr gas mixtures, providing both unprecedentedly high xenon uptake capacity (4.63 mmol cm(-3)) and krypton productivity (214 cm(3) g(-1)).

Automated summary

This paper reports on the discovery of two robust and radiation-resistant MOFs with adjacent metal sites and perfect pore sizes that can efficiently separate xenon from krypton. These materials exhibit record-high xenon uptake capacities and selectivities, and the locations of xenon molecules within one of the MOFs were visualized using single-crystal X-ray diffraction.