In situ Structure Investigation of Carbon Capture in Hydrophobic Metal-Organic Frameworks

To reach the EU's carbon neutral goal by 2050, there is particular interest in developing porous solid adsorbents capable of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) at industry relevant conditions. Porous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with hydrophobic pore environment are potential candidates to selective adsorb CO2 out of humid gas stream. However, the insights into the competitive adsorption process at molecular scale are rarely experimentally studied. We seek to request for 4 days at ID22 to carry out in situ adsorption experiment accompanied by high-resolution powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) to study the CO2 capture in two hydrophobic zirconium-MOFs (MIL-140B and MIL-140C). The structure refinement on high-resolution PXRD enables the visualisation of the competitive binding process of CO2 and H2O within the porous framework. This proposal will provide insights into the mechanism of CO2 capture at realistic conditions and form proof of concept for future MOF design.