Copper benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate (Cu-BTC) metal-organic framework (MOF) and porous carbon composites as efficient carbon dioxide adsorbents.

The development of novel porous materials for CO capture and storage has received increasing attention due to the global warming problem. The aim of this work was to develop novel composites by merging Cu-BTC framework and porous carbon materials, including ordered mesoporous non-activated carbon (OMC), ordered mesoporous activated carbon (AC), and nitrogen-containing microporous carbon (NC) as efficient adsorbents for CO capture. The morphology, porosity and surface area of the parent materials and composites were fully characterized. All resulting composites were identified as microporous materials with type I adsorption isotherm. During synthesis of these composites, additional micropores were formed in the interfacial region between heterogeneous phases, which greatly enhances both their specific surface area and porosity. As compared to the parent materials, namely carbons and Cu-BTC, the CO uptake capability of the composites is greatly enhanced due to the presence of micropores at the interface. Specifically, NC-Cu-BTC composite exhibited the highest CO capacity with ∼8.24 and ∼4.51 mmol/g under 1 bar at 0 and 25 °C, respectively. These novel porous carbon/MOF composites may have great potential for adsorption application including CO capture.