3D-Printed Metal-Organic Framework Monoliths for Gas Adsorption Processes

Abstract

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have shown promising performance in separation, adsorption, reaction, and storage of various industrial gases; however, their large-scale applications have been hampered by the lack of a proper strategy to formulate them into scalable gas-solid contactors. Herein, we report the fabrication of MOF monoliths using the 3D printing technique and evaluation of their adsorptive performance in CO₂ removal from air. The 3D-printed MOF-74(Ni) and UTSA-16(Co) monoliths with MOF loadings as high as 80 and 85 wt %, respectively, were developed, and their physical and structural properties were characterized and compared with those of MOF powders. Our adsorption experiments showed that, upon exposure to 5000 ppm (0.5%) CO₂ at 25°C, the MOF-74(Ni) and UTSA-16(Co) monoliths can adsorb CO₂ with uptake capacities of 1.35 and 1.31 mmol/g, respectively, which are 79% and 87% of the capacities of their MOF analogues under the same conditions. Furthermore, a stable performance was obtained for self-standing 3D-printed monolithic structures with relatively good adsorption kinetics. The preliminary findings reported in this investigation highlight the advantage of the robocasting (3D printing) technique for shaping MOF materials into practical configurations that are suitable for various gas separation applications.

Department(s)

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Comments

This work was financially supported by NASA-EPSCoR (Grant NNX15AK38A).

Keywords and Phrases

Adsorption; Carbon Dioxide; Crystalline Materials; Gas Adsorption; Nickel; Organic Polymers; Organometallics; Printing; 3-D Printing; CO2 Capture; MOF-74(Ni); Self Standings; UTSA-16(Co); 3D Printers; Self-Standing Monolith

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1944-8244; 1944-8252

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2017 American Chemical Society (ACS), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Oct 2017

PubMed ID

28952710

Link to Full Text

Share

 
COinS