Pore size effect of 1,3,6,8-tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)pyrene-based metal-organic frameworks for enhanced SF6 adsorption with high selectivity

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission poses as serious threat to our environment and it is therefore of utmost importance that efficient systems are developed to mitigate these issues. SF6, in particular, has attracted more attention in recent years due to its global warming potential which severely exceeds that of CO2. In this study we present the SF6 sorption properties of four highly porous 1,3,6,8-tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)pyrene-based (TBAPy4−) metal-organic frameworks containing either ytterbium(III), thulium(III), cerium(III), or hafnium(IV). These MOFs can be synthesized with high crystallinity in as little as 5 h and were found to have good SF6 uptakes due to their suitable pore size. The SF6 uptake of the Yb-TBAPy MOF reached 2.33 mmol g−1 with high Henry's law SF6-over-N2 selectivity of ∼80 at 1 bar and 293 K. The TBAPy-MOFs were also found to have good chemical stability and good cyclic SF6 sorption stability with fast SF6 uptake. These TBAPy-MOFs possesses many of the properties desired for an efficient SF6 sorbent and may be suitable sorbents for further development, including sorbent processing for industrial applications.