Zirconium-based metal-organic framework with bis(hydroxyphenyl)anthracene derivative: molecular design, synthesis, crystal structures, and methane adsorption

Abstract

A metal-organic framework (MOF) composed of a zirconium cluster with a bis(hydroxyphenyl)anthracene linker, Zr6O4(OH)4(adhb)6 (adhb: 4,4′-(anthracene-9,10-diyl)bis(2-hydroxybenzoic acid), was designed to achieve methane storage up to 300 g and batch synthesized without using an autoclave. This MOF can adsorb 65.4 cm3STP/cm3 and 4.7w% of methane at 294 K and 9.8 bar due to its large specific surface area of 1,818 m2/g and void fraction of 0.78 cm3/g. Furthermore, an octahedral cage model indicated that the anthracene ring provides a suitable pore entrance and steric hindrance for methane inclusion.