2 - Metal-organic framework based carbon capture and purification technologies for clean environment

CO₂, an anthropogenic greenhouse gas, is accountable for global warming, ocean acidification, and is an impurity in several industrially important gas mixtures. Advanced CO₂ capture (C-capture) technologies with low energy footprints must emerge if society is to transition to a sustainable low-carbon economy. Herein we address the state-of-the-art with respect to C-capture by metal-organic framework (MOF) physisorbents and related materials. We detail the specific structural and chemical features of MOFs, including the application of crystal engineering principles to control and fine-tune pore chemistry and pore size. These approaches have afforded the highest bulk and trace C-capture performances to date but that does not yet mean that they are ready for industrial utility. We put these advances in the context of existing C-capture technologies by addressing the spectrum of performance parameters that must be addressed in order to enable the development of physisorbents for more energy-efficient industrial scale C-capture.