Greatly Intensified Guest Exchange Strategy for Highly-Efficient Activation of Metal-Organic Frameworks

The preservation and accessibility of pores are prerequisites to the application of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Activation is a key step to eliciting rich features of pores, but it needs a repeated solvent-exchange process which is tedious and time/cost-consuming. Herein, a facile strategy for highly-efficient activation of MOFs utilizing rotating packed bed is proposed. With the tremendous enhancement of molecular mixing and mass transfer in high-gravity and strong-shearing surrounding, nine representative MOFs are completely activated within 2 h without structural change. Compared with conventional process, this activation displays surprising efficiency by accelerating the diffusion of solvents and redissolution of residual reactants in the pores. The complete activation time can be significantly shortened by over 90%. As a proof-of-concept, the methane storage of as-activated UiO-66 is five times that of as-synthesized UiO-66. This strategy provides a potential platform with industrial worth for the activation of MOF materials with ultra-high efficiency and versatility.

Automated summary

A facile strategy for highly-efficient activation of MOFs utilizing rotating packed bed is proposed, which can completely activate nine representative MOFs within 2 hours without structural change. Compared with conventional methods, this activation strategy accelerates solvent diffusion and redissolution of residual reactants, significantly shortening the activation time and improving methane storage capacity.