EMBEDDING GRAPHENE-LIKE LAYERS IN HYBRID METAL ORGANIC FRAMEWORKS: THE EFFECT ON CO2 CAPTURE

A new class of metal organic framework was designed and characterized for CO2 capture strategy also evaluating selectivity toward CO2/N2 mixtures. The adsorption measurements were performed under static conditions with a pressure decay technique. In this study, HKUST-1 (or Cu3(BTC)2) was used as benchmark MOF material. The HKUST-1 framework was modified by enclosing Zn2+ and a small amount (5 wt. %) of graphene-like layers (GL), a new-concept graphene related material (GRM), and the effect of such modifications on the microstructure and CO2 capture performance was studied. The modified HKUST-1 samples showed a different gas adsorption behavior, that depends on the chemical structure and on the material microtexture. The best performing samples in terms of CO2 uptake contain either a small amount of Zn2+ (< 0.5 wt. %) or GL layers.