Optomising nanoporous adsorbents for hydrogen purification

A combined chemistry/chemical engineering project developing synthetic and computational methodology for preparing novel porous adsorbents. This has resulted in strong developments in designed synthesis of novel materials and insights into the behaviour of such adsorbents under a range of conditions.

The purification of gas streams and separation of valuable components is most efficiently achieved via the use of solid adsorbents. Metal organic frameworks have great potential as improved porous materials for these processes. In this project we have developed new routes to novel materials and characterised their adsorbent performance.

In this project we have developed phosphonate, imidazolate and carboxylate MOFs for the selective adsorption of gases such as CO2 that are present in hydrogen streams, and linked chemical engineering and chemical approaches to the problem of materials synthesis and design for use in these processes.



We have prepared and characterised novel porous bisphosphonates and used isoreticular synthesis for the first time in phosphonate MOF synthesis to prepare mesoporous bisphosphonate MOFs. These phosphonates are found to show selective uptake of CO2 and also gas chromatographic and catalytic properties, according to which metals are included in their frameworks.



We have also studied the flexibility of imidazolate MOFs by in situ synchrotron diffraction and modelling and have prepare a novel carboxylate that has two independent channel systems that shows selectivity that depends on the composition of the adsorbate mix. These insights into the structural responsivity and flexibility of adsorbents are currently being highly cited.