Exploiting hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity in nanopores as a design principle for "smart" MOF microtanks for methane storage
R Anderson and B Seong and Z Peterson and M Stevanak and MA Carreon and DA Gomez-Gualdron, MOLECULAR SYSTEMS DESIGN & ENGINEERING, 5, 166-176 (2020).
DOI: 10.1039/c9me00072k
Widespread use of methane-powered vehicles likely requires the
development of efficient on-board methane storage systems. A novel
concept for methane storage is the nanoporous microtank, which is based
on a millimeter-sized nanoporous pellet (the core) surrounded by an
ultrathin membrane (the shell). Mixture adsorption simulations in
idealized pores indicate that by combining a pellet that features large,
hydrophobic pores with a membrane featuring small, hydrophilic pores, it
would be possible to trap a large amount of "pressurized" methane in the
pellet while keeping the external pressure low. The methane would be
trapped by sealing the surrounding membrane with the adsorption of a
hydrophilic compound such as methanol. Additional simulations in over
2000 hypothesized metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) indicate that the
above design concept could be exploited using real nanoporous materials.
Structure-property relationships derived from these simulations indicate
that MOFs suitable for the core (storing over 250
cc(STP)
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