Highly porous metal-organic framework liquids and glasses via a solvent-assisted linker exchange strategy of ZIF-8

Abstract

By combining the porosity of crystalline metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with the unique processability of the liquid state, melt-quenched MOF glasses offer exciting opportunities for molecular separation. However, progress in this field is limited by two factors. Firstly, only very few MOFsmelt at elevated temperatures and transform into stable glasses upon cooling the correspondingMOF liquid. Secondly, theMOF glasses obtained thus far feature only very small porosities and very small pore sizes. Here, we demonstrate solventassisted linker exchange (SALE) as a versatile method to prepare highly porous melt-quenched MOF glasses from the canonical ZIF-8. Two additional organic linkers are incorporated into the non-meltable ZIF-8, yielding high-entropy, linker-exchanged ZIF-8 derivatives undergoing crystal-to-liquid-to-glass phase transitions by thermal treatment. The ZIF-8 glasses demonstrate specific pore volumes of about 0.2 cm3g–1, adsorb large amounts of technologically relevant C3 and C4 hydrocarbons, and feature high kinetic sorption selectivities for the separation of propylene from propane.