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A V-shaped microporous metal-organic framework with multiple binding sites for highly efficient ethane/ethylene separation
Nano Research 2026, 19(7): 94908523
Published: 20 May 2026
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Development of ethane-selective porous materials for highly efficient ethane/ethylene (C2H6/C2H4) separation can energy-efficiently produce high-purity C2H4 in one step. Microporous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) show great promise as ethane-selective materials; however, achieving both high C2H6 capacity and high C2H6/C2H4 selectivity in most reported MOFs remains a significant challenge. Herein, we report, for the first time, the strategy of designing V-shaped pore structure with multiple binding sites in an Al-MOF (CAU-8-ODB) to target both high C2H6 uptake and selectivity for highly efficient C2H6/C2H4 separation. This V-shaped micropore configuration not only enables a large number of inert phenyl rings surrounding the cage to provide stronger interactions with C2H6 over C2H4, but also provides enough pore spaces to take up large amount of C2H6. Gas adsorption studies reveal that CAU-8-ODB exhibits a combination of both large C2H6 adsorption capacity (3.30 mmol·g−1 at 0.5 bar) and high C2H6/C2H4 selectivity (2.2) at 296 K and 1 bar, outperforming or comparable to most of top-performing materials reported. Theoretical calculations indicate that the V-shaped cavities with suitable pore spaces can provide stronger multipoint interactions with C2H6 than C2H4, accounting for both high C2H6 uptake and selectivity. The actual separation capacity of CAU-8-ODB was further testified by the breakthrough experiments for 50/50 (v/v) C2H6/C2H4 mixtures, affording a remarkably high C2H4 productivity of 15.1 L·kg−1 with high purity of 99.95% under ambient conditions.

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