Adsorption of volatile organic compounds by metal–organic frameworks MIL-101: Influence of molecular size and shape

Adsorption of gaseous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on metal-organic frameworks MIL-101, a novel porous adsorbent with extremely large Langmuir surface area of 5870 m(2)/g and pore volume of 1.85 cm(3)/g, and the influence of VOC molecular size and shape on adsorption were investigated in this study. We observed that MIL-101 is a potential superior adsorbent for the sorptive removal of VOCs including polar acetone and nonpolar benzene, toluene, ethylbeznene, and xylenes. MIL-101 is of higher adsorption capacities for all selected VOCs than zeolite, activated carbon and other reported adsorbents. Adsorption of VOCs on MIL-101 is captured by a pore filling mechanism, showing the size and shape selectivity of VOC molecules. These prove to be a negative linear relationship between the volume adsorption capacities of VOCs and their molecular cross-sectional area values. Most VOC molecules, such as acetone, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and p-xylene, enter into MIL-101 pores with the planes having the minimum diameters. However, m-xylene and o-xylene may fill into the pores with the planes having the maximum diameters because of the preferred interaction of MIL-101 with the two methyl groups of adsorbate molecules.