Gas flaring is an environmentally harmful process whereby natural gas (mainly methane) from oil drilling is burned off into the atmosphere. Because the carbon dioxide produced by combustion is a less potent greenhouse gas than methane itself, flaring is preferable to releasing methane directly into the air. However, this still represents a significant waste of a valuable resource that could be exploited. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a versatile family of porous crystalline materials comprising metal nodes and organic linkers, offer promising solutions to flaring. For example, the zirconium-based MOF NU-1000 has been shown to capture methane and catalyze its oxidation to methanol, an important chemical feedstock and an easily transportable liquid at room temperature. Accessing smaller or thinner particles of NU-1000 facilitates characterization by transmission electron microscopy, enabling fundamental study of active sites on and within the MOF. In this work, the crystal growth of NU-1000 was studied in several formamide-based solvents. Results demonstrate a strong relationship between particle aspect ratio (length/width) and molecular weight of the solvent. Solvent identity can therefore be added to the existing list of synthetic parameters that enable purposeful control over particle size, shape, and crystallinity.

Controlling size and aspect ratio of the metal-organic framework NU-1000 using solvent identity

ACS Spring 2022

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