Room-Temperature Synthesis of an Ultramicroporous Pillared-Layer Metal–Organic Framework for Carbon Dioxide Capture

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a critical technology for reducing global warming, and solid adsorbents with cost-effectiveness, robustness, and high working capacity are urgently desirable. However, the presence of water vapor in flue gas always causes the co-adsorption of CO2 and H2O, resulting in the limitation of the CO2 adsorption capacity. In this work, a robust ultramicroporous pillared-layer metal–organic framework (MOF), MAF-60, was successfully synthesized at room temperature, and achieved a high CO2 uptake of 2.90 mmol g–1 at 298 K and 1 bar, as well as energy-efficient regeneration and durability. Breakthrough experiments revealed that MAF-60 can be applied to CO2 capture from both dry and humid flue gas. The sorption kinetics measurement and computational simulations confirmed that the sorption kinetics and structural rigidity play important roles. These results validate that the robust MAF-60 holds great potential for practical CO2 capture.