Enhanced Water Adsorption Performance of UiO-66 Modulated with p-Nitrobenzoic or p-Hydroxybenzoic Acid: Introduced Defects and Functional Groups

Adding appropriate modulators can effectively improve the porosity and adsorption performance of UiO-66. Herein, UiO-66 samples were synthesized with p-nitrobenzoic acid (PNBA) and p-hydroxybenzoic acid (PHBA) as modulators. All samples exhibited good crystallinity and thermal stability. The polar functional groups (-NO2 and -OH) and defects were introduced into UiO-66, which significantly improved its water adsorption performance and applications in adsorption heat transformation. With the addition of six equiv PNBA, the saturated water uptake of UiO-66 increased from 0.40 to 0.58 g/g. Also, 4eqPNBA-UiO-66 exhibited the highest water uptake under low relative pressure, which was almost twice that of low-defect LD-UiO-66. The addition of PHBA had little effect on the saturated water absorption. However, its highest water uptake at P/P0 = 0.3 is 0.23 g/g, which is equivalent to that of 4eqPNBA-UiO-66. Ten consecutive adsorption/desorption cycles indicated that these samples had good cycle stability.

Automated summary

The addition of p-nitrobenzoic acid and p-hydroxybenzoic acid as modulators effectively improves the porosity and adsorption performance of UiO-66. These samples exhibit good crystallinity and thermal stability, and show potential applications in adsorption heat transformation.