Volume 41, Issue 2 pp. 224-234
Review

Smart Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs): Switching Gas Permeation through MOF Membranes by External Stimuli

Alexander Knebel

Alexander Knebel

Leibniz University Hannover, Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Callinstrasse 3A, 30167 Hannover, Germany

Search for more papers by this author
Chen Zhou

Chen Zhou

Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, CAS, Institute of New Energy Technology, 1219 Zhongguan Road, 315201 Ningbo, China

Search for more papers by this author
Aisheng Huang

Aisheng Huang

Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, CAS, Institute of New Energy Technology, 1219 Zhongguan Road, 315201 Ningbo, China

Search for more papers by this author
Jian Zhang

Jian Zhang

Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, CAS, Institute of New Energy Technology, 1219 Zhongguan Road, 315201 Ningbo, China

Search for more papers by this author
Leonid Kustov

Leonid Kustov

Russian Academy of Sciences, N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Leninsky Prospect, 47, 119991 Moscow, Russia

Search for more papers by this author
Juergen Caro

Corresponding Author

Juergen Caro

Leibniz University Hannover, Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Callinstrasse 3A, 30167 Hannover, Germany

Correspondence: Juergen Caro ([email protected]), Leibniz University Hannover, Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Callinstrasse 3A, 30167 Hannover, Germany.Search for more papers by this author
First published: 15 December 2017
Citations: 45

Abstract

The switching of gas permeation and adsorption on polymers, zeolites, and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) by external stimuli like temperature, pressure, light, and electric fields is discussed. Especially MOFs as soft porous crystals are suitable candidates for switching gas transport. If the linker of a MOF contains a cis-trans switchable azo moiety, switching of the trans state into the cis state reduces gas transport through a MOF membrane. On the other hand, MOFs with dipolar or ionic components can be switched upon polarization with an electric field into polymorphs of the starting MOF. A ZIF-8 membrane can be switched into a polymorph with a rather stiff lattice, which sharpens the molecular sieving effect of the membrane, and, as an example, the propene/propane selectivity increases.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.