As a cheaper and cleaner fuel, natural gas is a promising source of energy with considerable environmental, economic, and political advantages over petroleum. Despite these benefits, the low volumetric energy density of natural gas at ambient temperature and pressure prevents its widespread adoption as a fuel source in the transportation sector. Adsorbed natural gas systems have the potential to store high densities of methane within porous materials at ambient temperature and moderate pressures. Recently, the flexible metal–organic framework Co(bdp) (bdp = 1,4-benzenedipyrazolate) was shown to undergo a structural phase transition in response to specific CH4 pressures, resulting in adsorption and desorption isotherms that feature a sharp ‘step.’ This work describes the synthesis of the new framework Fe(bdp), which is isostructural to Co(bdp). This flexible material displays a sharp step in its isotherm at a higher pressure than Co(bdp), demonstrating the ability to tune the step position chemically. Such frameworks undergoing phase transitions also provide internal heat management during adsorption and desorption—enabling greater storage capacities than have been achieved for classical adsorbents, while also reducing the amount of heat released during adsorption and the impact of cooling during desorption.

Methane adsorption in a flexible iron metal-organic framework with intrinsic heat management

253rd National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.