Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are exciting materials for use in fuel production, fuel transport from production site to point of use, and storage. In this presentation, we will describe recent results from our research in these three areas. First, we discuss our discovery that magnesium borohydride (Mg(BH4)2), a complex metal hydride with high gravimetric and volumetric hydrogen capacity, but slow release kinetics and poor reversibility, can be stabilized in molecular form (as opposed to nanoclusters) in the MOF UiO-67-bpy. Here, the MOF serves as a “non-innocent host” in which the pyridinic nitrogens that are part of the framework interact with the Mg(II) ions to stabilize the hydride. Hydrogen release from this material is accelerated, occurring &gt; 100 °C lower than bulk. Second, we describe experiments showing that H2 release from polyols can be catalyzed by MOFs with open metal sites. Polyols are among various hydrocarbons proposed as high-density hydrogen carriers, but practical implementation requires an effective catalyst to enable reversible H2 release. Finally, we will discuss MOF-catalyzed aldol condensation to produce C4 – C8 olefins, which can serve as precursors to distillates, using zirconium-based MOFs. The advantage of these MOFs over conventional zeolite catalysts is the ability to independently control pore size and the relative concentrations Brønsted and Lewis acid sites. Together, these results demonstrate the remarkable versatility of MOFs for enabling a carbon-neutral energy economy.

Hybrid and functionalized MOFs for fuel production, transport, and storage

2019 Fall National Meeting

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