A Rod‐Packing Hydrogen‐Bonded Organic Framework with Suitable Pore Confinement for Benchmark Ethane/Ethylene Separation
Xu Zhang, Jia‐Xin Wang, Libo Li, Jiyan Pei, Rajamani Krishna, Hui Wu, Wei Zhou, Guodong Qian, Banglin Chen, Bin Li
Abstract
Abstract For the separation of ethane from ethylene, it remains challenging to target both high C 2 H 6 adsorption and selectivity in a C 2 H 6 ‐selective material. Herein, we report a reversible solid‐state transformation in a labile hydrogen‐bonded organic framework to generate a new rod‐packing desolvated framework (ZJU‐HOF‐1) with suitable cavity spaces and functional surfaces to optimally interact with C 2 H 6 . ZJU‐HOF‐1 thus exhibits simultaneously high C 2 H 6 uptake (88 cm 3 g −1 at 0.5 bar and 298 K) and C 2 H 6 /C 2 H 4 selectivity (2.25), which are significantly higher than those of most top‐performing materials. Theoretical calculations revealed that the cage‐like cavities and functional sites synergistically “match” better with C 2 H 6 to provide stronger multipoint interactions with C 2 H 6 than C 2 H 4 . In combination with its high stability and ultralow water uptake, this material can efficiently capture C 2 H 6 from 50/50 C 2 H 6 /C 2 H 4 mixtures in ambient conditions under 60 % RH, providing a record polymer‐grade C 2 H 4 productivity of 0.98 mmol g −1 .