Room-Temperature Synthesis of Pyr<sub>1/3</sub>@Cu–BTC with Enhanced Stability and Its Excellent Performance for Separation of Propylene/Propane
Yiwei Sun, Zhanfan Ke, Yuning Tang, Sa Wang, Ying Wu, Qibin Xia, Zhong Li
Abstract
It is critical to enhance further the stability and adsorption selectivity of MOFs for promoting applications of MOFs. Herein, we proposed an effective bifunctional SBU-tuning strategy to synthesize novel Pyr1/3@Cu–BTC for the separation of propylene/propane. Pyr@ Cu–BTC was synthesized by grafting of pyrrole onto Cu–BTC. Its water vapor stability and separation property were then examined. The resulting Pyr1/3@Cu–BTC showed not only enhanced water vapor stability but also superhigh C3H6 adsorption capacity as well as C3H6/C3H8 selectivity at 1 bar and 298 K, reaching 7.60 mmol/g and 8.3 separately, much higher than most MOFs. Experiments of water vapor stability indicated that after being placed under humid air (RH of 55%) for 20 days, Pyr1/3@Cu–BTC still retained its crystalline structure. The application of the fixed bed of Pyr1/3@Cu–BTC could completely separate C3H6 and C3H8 from their mixture at ambient conditions. Pyr1/3@Cu–BTC is promising for the separation of propylene/propane or propylene recovery from dry gas.