Recent advances in carbon dioxide capture with metal-organic frameworks

Uncontrolled massive release of the primary greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) into atmosphere from anthropogenic activities poses a big threat and adversely affects our global climate and natural environment. One promising approach to mitigate CO2 emission is carbon capture and storage (CCS), in which ideal adsorbent materials with high storage capacity and excellent adsorption selectivity over other gases are urgently needed. For practical applications in CO2 capture from flue gas of power plants, the biggest single contributor of anthropogenic CO2 emission, the adsorbent materials must also be chemically stable, be easy to regenerate with minimal energy input, and be easily synthesized with low capital cost. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), highly crystalline porous materials constructed by metal ions and organic ligands, have emerged as a class of excellent adsorbent materials for carbon capture. Great progress in MOF materials for CO2 capture has been made in the past and reviewed accordingly, but new discoveries are constantly being made as the field quickly grows. In this paper, we provide a short review on the most recent advances in using MOFs for CO2 adsorption, storage, and separation that are directly related to CO2 capture. Some of the important properties of MOF adsorbents which are crucial for practical applications but are largely overlooked in research carried out so far are discussed. (c) 2012 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd