Separating/capturing SF₆, having the strongest global warming potential, from exhaust gas with low concentration (1%–10%) in the power industry is significant for both greenhouse gas emission control and SF₆ recycling and reutilization. In this study, we achieved highly efficient SF₆/N₂ separation under different SF₆ concentrations (1% and 10%) using two homologous metal-organic frameworks, Ni-bpz and Zn-bpz. This outcome underscores the effectiveness of rational nano-traps distribution engineering for targeted separation applications. The molecular simulation suggests that an SF₆ molecule interacts with a single nano-trap in Zn-bpz. At the same time, it is efficiently confined by two adjacent nano-traps in the parallel distribution of Ni-bpz. Consequently, exceptional SF₆/N₂ selectivity for 1/99 and 10/90 mixtures have been respectively achieved in Ni-bpz (516, SF₆/N₂ = 1/99) and Zn-bpz (608, SF₆/N₂ = 10/90) at 298 K and 1 bar. In dynamic breakthrough experiments, Ni-bpz exhibits a record pure N₂ (≥ 99.99%) productivity (1496 mL/g) for an SF₆/N₂ (1/99) gas mixture. Moreover, both MOFs demonstrate excellent water resistance across multiple cycles, suggesting their high promise for practical application.

The illegal usage of antibiotics as veterinary drugs is an increasing threat for human health. The specific sensing of antibiotics with different toxicity levels is of high challenge, and mainly relies on expensive, time-consuming, and complex instruments. To realize specific sensing by rapid and handy optical sensors, a metal-organic framework (MOF) based dual sensor system is herein developed using two MOF materials BUT-128 and BUT-129 with high sensing selectivity and sensitivity. BUT-128 and BUT-129 exhibit the lowest limit of detection (LOD) towards chloramphenicol and furazolidone among reported MOF sensors. The corresponding dual sensor system with enriched signal readouts realized specific sensing of the strictly forbidden antibiotics (chloramphenicol and nitrofurans) from other regulated veterinary drugs including thiamphenicol, a structural analog of chloramphenicol. Besides, the strategy of this work is expected to flourish the development of optical sensors with high specificity for environment and food safety purposes.