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Quasi-open Cu(i) sites for efficient CO separation with high O2/H2O tolerance

Nature Materials volume 23, pages 116–123 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Carbon monoxide (CO) separation relies on chemical adsorption but suffers from the difficulty of desorption and instability of open metal sites against O2, H2O and so on. Here we demonstrate quasi-open metal sites with hidden or shielded coordination sites as a promising solution. Possessing the trigonal coordination geometry (sp2), Cu(i) ions in porous frameworks show weak physical adsorption for non-target guests. Rational regulation of framework flexibility enables geometry transformation to tetrahedral geometry (sp3), generating a fourth coordination site for the chemical adsorption of CO. Quantitative breakthrough experiments at ambient conditions show CO uptakes up to 4.1 mmol g−1 and CO selectivity up to 347 against CO2, CH4, O2, N2 and H2. The adsorbents can be completely regenerated at 333–373 K to recover CO with a purity of >99.99%, and the separation performances are stable in high-concentration O2 and H2O. Although CO leakage concentration generally follows the structural transition pressure, large amounts (>3 mmol g−1) of ultrahigh-purity (99.9999999%, 9N; CO concentration < 1 part per billion) gases can be produced in a single adsorption process, demonstrating the usefulness of this approach for separation applications.

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Fig. 1: Adsorption behaviours of OMSs and qOMSs.
Fig. 2: Single-component adsorption behaviours.
Fig. 3: CO adsorption mechanism.
Fig. 4: Mixture adsorption/separation behaviours.

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Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this Article and its Supplementary Information. Additional data are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

J.-P.Z. acknowledges support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22231012, 22090061 and 21821003) and the XPLORER PRIZE. We thank J.X. Jiang for help with the infrared spectroscopy experiments and Z.F. Ke for help with the computational simulation.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Xue-Wen Zhang, Chao Wang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, GBRCE for Functional Molecular Engineering, School of Chemistry, IGCME, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Xue-Wen Zhang, Chao Wang, Zong-Wen Mo, Xiao-Xian Chen, Wei-Xiong Zhang & Jie-Peng Zhang

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Contributions

J.-P.Z. conceived and designed the research. X.-W.Z., C.W. and Z.-W.M. performed the syntheses and measurements. C.W., X.-W.Z., X.-X.C. and W.-X.Z. carried out the structural analyses. X.-W.Z. carried out the breakthrough experiments and theoretical calculations. C.W. collected the infrared spectra. X.-W.Z., C.W. and J.-P.Z. wrote the manuscript, and all authors have given approval to the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jie-Peng Zhang.

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Zhang, XW., Wang, C., Mo, ZW. et al. Quasi-open Cu(i) sites for efficient CO separation with high O2/H2O tolerance. Nat. Mater. 23, 116–123 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-023-01729-4

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