Enhanced selectivity of alkane mixture gas on the N-oxide group decorated metal-organic framework

Adsorption sites play an essential role in gas separation. We introduce N-oxide groups into MOFs to investigate the binding interactions between N-oxide groups and light saturated hydrocarbons for the first time. MOF-808-INO with N-oxide groups shows great performance to separate the mixture of methane, ethane and propane. Remarkably, MOF-808-INO exhibits a very low heat of adsorption of propane, which is important for pre-activation. The cycling experiments reveal that subsequent activation is only required at room temperature with nitrogen purging for several hours, indicating that MOF-808-INO has immense potential applications for recycled materials.