Heat properties of a hydrophilic carboxylate-based MOF for water adsorption applications

The development of new porous materials is expanding the boundaries of applications related to gas adsorption, including gas separation, catalysis, drying and energy storage. The specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity of the adsorbent materials are important parameters in the engineering process. For instance, in the adsorptive heat pump technology, the energy generation and transfer by the adsorbent during the adsorption and desorption process of the adsorbate directly determines the energy efficiency of the working cycle. However, the thermal properties’ data for the novel types of adsorbent materials, metal–organic frameworks (MOF), is often lacking in the literature. This work followed a protocol particularly relevant for the measurement of MOFs’ thermal properties under powder form. A very promising hybrid material for energy storage, separation and other applications, MIL-160, has been tested as a reference. The specific heat capacity of the material was measured at temperatures ranging from 20 °C to 75 °C with a heat flow type differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The thermal conductivity was measured with a transient heating source technique within a similar temperature range. By fitting the experimental data to the Clausius-Clapeyron model, the performance of this material in the application of adsorptive heat pump was obtained.