Microwave-assisted in-situ growth of Zr-MOP-NH2 on the LDH surface for enhancing CO2 capacity

Metal-organic polyhedra (MOP) have received considerable attention owing to their high porosity, customizable functionality, controlled porous structure, and good chemical stability. They have promising applications in capturing carbon generated from fossil fuel combustion. However, the skeleton structure of MOP is prone to collapse at high temperatures. During the activation process, it is simple to agglomerate and block the pores, which significantly weakens their capacity and selectivity in CO2 adsorption. In this work, an effective strategy was developed to overcome these obstacles by uniformly dispersing MOP on the surface of layered double hy-droxide nanosheets (LDHNS). The synergistic effect of microwave is utilized to obtain LDHNS/Zr-MOP-NH2 composites with uniform size and particle dispersion within 10 min. This method enhances experimental efficiency and radically reduces reaction time. Overall, LDHNS/Zr-MOP-NH2 shows notably better CO2 capacity, selectivity, and cycle ability, and also exhibits improved thermal stability than the original Zr-MOP-NH2. As far as we know, this is the first report on the use of MOP in combination with LDH for CO2 storage, which will bring new insights into the field. It is important to note that this method can be employed for other porous materials, enabling not only the reduction of carbon emissions, but also the rational utilization of mineral resources.

Automated summary

Metal-organic polyhedra (MOP) have attracted attention due to their customizable functionality and good chemical stability. However, their skeleton structure is prone to collapse at high temperatures and the activation process can weaken their CO2 adsorption capacity and selectivity. In this study, an effective strategy was developed to overcome these challenges by uniformly dispersing MOP on the surface of layered double hydroxide nanosheets (LDHNS) using microwave-assisted synthesis. The resulting LDHNS/Zr-MOP-NH2 composites demonstrated improved CO2 capacity, selectivity, cycle ability, and thermal stability compared to the original Zr-MOP-NH2. This is the first report on the combination of MOP and LDH for CO2 storage, which offers new insights in this field. Moreover, the method can be extended to other porous materials for reducing carbon emissions and utilizing mineral resources more efficiently.