Methane Storage in Porous Metal-Organic Frameworks: Current Records and Future Perspectives

Porous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a novel family of physisorptive materials exhibiting great potential for methane storage applications. Several MOF compounds have been reported to exhibit high methane uptake at room temperature and modest pressure, with a few even surpassing the target for material-based, adsorbed methane storage set by U.S. Department of Energy. Here we briefly review the rapid research progress in recent years on methane storage in MOFs and highlight the current record holders. We also discuss the current understanding of the methane storage mechanism in these fascinating materials and outline the future directions in this field. 2010 The Japan Chemical Journal Forum and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Chem Rec 10: 200-204; 2010: Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI 10.1002/tcr.201000004