UC Berkeley

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are a type of porous material, featuring large pore size, tunable pore structure, and high surface area. They have a broad range of applications in gas adsorption and separation, catalysis, and molecule delivery. Their versatility ensures the great potential for CO2 capture to address climate change.

Chapter 2 describes a novel method to investigate the cooperative CO2 adsorption phenomenon in diamine-appended Mg2(dobpdc) by combining gas adsorption measurements, advanced NMR experiments, and simulation methods. This chapter concludes that e-2 blocks of relatively small size along the channel direction can ensure cooperativity to occur.

Chapter 3 describes direct air capture in tetraamine-appended Mg2(dobpdc). Gas adsorption measurements are used to study the thermodynamics of CO2 adsorption in the materials, while solid-state NMR experiments thoroughly explore the CO2 adsorption mechanism. The materials demonstrate high CO2 adsorption capacities under direct air capture conditions, making them promising candidates for direct air capture applications.

Chapter 4 discusses the enhancement of CO2 capture in a tetraamine-appended Mg2(dobpdc) under humid conditions. Solid-state NMR experiments confirm the extra CO2 adsorption under humid conditions is due to the formation of carbonate/bicarbonate species and quantify the extra uptake.