High Water Adsorption MOFs with Optimized Pore-Nanospaces for Autonomous Indoor Humidity Control and Pollutants Removal

The indoor air quality is of prime importance for human daily life and health, for which the adsorbents like zeolites and silica-gels are widely used for air dehumidification and harmful gases capture. Herein, we develop a pore-nanospace post-engineering strategy to optimize the hydrophilicity, water-uptake capacity and air-purifying ability of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with long-term stability, offering an ideal candidate with autonomous multi-functionality of moisture control and pollutants sequestration. Through variant tuning of organic-linkers carrying hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups in the pore-nanospaces of prototypical UiO-67, a moderately hydrophilic MOF (UiO-67-4Me-NH2-38 %) with high thermal, hydrolytic and acid-base stability is screened out, featuring S-shaped water sorption isotherms exactly located in the recommended comfortable and healthy ranges of relative humidity for indoor ventilation (45 %-65 % RH) and adverse health effects minimization (40-60 % RH). Its exceptional attributes of water-uptake working capacity/efficiency, contaminants removal, recyclability and regeneration promise a great potential in confined indoor environment application.

Automated summary

The study focuses on developing a pore-nanospace post-engineering strategy to optimize the hydrophilicity, water-uptake capacity and air-purifying ability of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). A moderately hydrophilic MOF (UiO-67-4Me-NH2-38%) with high thermal, hydrolytic and acid-base stability was identified, showing potential for efficient moisture control and pollutants sequestration in confined indoor environments. Exceptional attributes such as water-uptake working capacity/efficiency, contaminants removal, recyclability and regeneration make it a promising candidate for indoor air quality improvement.