A Moisture-Stable 3D Microporous CoII-Metal-Organic Framework with Potential for Highly Selective CO2 Separation under Ambient Conditions

Selective adsorption and separation of CO2 from flue gas and landfill gas mixtures have drawn great attention in industry. Porous MOF materials are promising alternatives to achieve such separations; however, the stability in the presence of moisture must be taken into consideration. Herein, we have constructed a microporous metal-organic framework (MOF) {[Co(OBA)(L)(0.5)]center dot S}(n) (IITKGP-8), by employing a V-shaped organic linker with an azo-functionalized N,N spacer forming a 3D network with mab topology and 1D rhombus-shaped channels along the crystallographic 'b' axis with a void volume of 34.2%. The activated MOF reveals a moderate CO2 uptake capacity of 55.4 and 26.5 cm(3)g(-1) at 273 and 295 K/1bar, respectively, whereas it takes up a significantly lower amount of CH4 and N-2 under similar conditions and thus exhibits its potential for highly selective sorption of CO2 with excellent IAST selectivity of CO2/N-2 (106 at 273 K and 43.7 at 295 K) and CO2/CH4 (17.7 at 273 K and 17.1 at 295 K) under 1 bar. More importantly, this MOF exhibits excellent moisture stability as assessed through PXRD experiments coupled with surface area analysis.