Multifunctional metal-organic frameworks : from academia to industrial applications

After three decades of intense and fundamental research on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), is there anything left to say or to explain? The synthesis and properties of MOFs have already been comprehensively described elsewhere. It is time, however, to prove the nature of their true usability: technological applications based on these extended materials require development and implementation as a natural consequence of the up-to-known intensive research focused on their design and preparation. The current large number of reviews on MOFs emphasizes practical strategies to develop novel networks with varied crystal size, shape and topology, being mainly devoted to academic concerns. The present survey intends to push the boundaries and summarise the state-of-the-art on the preparation of promising (multi) functional MOFs in worldwide laboratories and their use as materials for industrial implementation. This review starts, on the one hand, to describe several tools and striking examples of remarkable and recent (multi) functional MOFs exhibiting outstanding properties (e.g., in gas adsorption and separation, selective sorption of harmful compounds, heterogeneous catalysis, luminescent and corrosion protectants). On the other hand, and in a second part, it intends to use these examples of MOFs to incite scientists to move towards the transference of knowledge from the laboratories to the industry. Within this context, we exhaustively review the many efforts of several worldwide commercial companies to bring functional MOFs towards the daily use, analysing the various patents and applications reported to date. Overall, this review goes from the very basic concepts of functional MOF engineering and preparation ending up in their industrial production on a large scale and direct applications in society

Collaborative elicitation to select a sustainable biogas desulfurization technique for landfills

[EN] The 2015 Paris Agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change establishes three key ways for the reduction of the emissions of Greenhouse Effect Gases: mitigation, adaptation and resilience of ecosystems. In this context, one of the major goals for methane recovery from waste is the process of obtaining biogas from biomass or waste, a form of fuel with zero impact on the carbon footprint of the planet. All possible uses of biogas depend mainly on the degree of purification obtained. The removal of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is the main weakness in using biogas in industrial applications. If the use of biogas is intended for engines, turbines or to enrich the biogas to obtain natural gas, lowering the levels of H2S will be necessary, in order to avoid corrosion in gas lines and in engines. Biogas desulfurization can be achieved through different techniques: physical, chemical, biological or hybrid procedures. Selecting the most sustainable technique to clean biogas entails a complex problem, which involves the analysis of these desulfurization treatments under different criteria. In this paper, we present a novel collaborative elicitation to select the consensus procedure for the reduction of the concentration of H2S in biogases from landfills. The elicitation technique is based on fuzzy set theory and VIKOR method in order to handle intangible data and to avoid potential bias by the panelists. The proposed hybrid method guarantees traceability and transparency to achieve consensus among the panel of experts during the decision making procedure.Curiel-Esparza, J.; Reyes-Medina, M.; Martín Utrillas, MG.; Martínez-García, MP.; Canto-Perello, J. (2019). Collaborative elicitation to select a sustainable biogas desulfurization technique for landfills. Journal of Cleaner Production. 212:1334-1344. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.12.095S1334134421

Application of Carbon Nanomaterials as Supports in Heterogeneous Catalysis

The overall objective of this project is to investigate the application of carbon nanomaterials as support in heterogeneous catalysis. In the study, carbon nanomaterials such as single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs), carbon replica of zeolites and activated carbon are proposed as support in heterogeneous catalysis. The performance of carbon nanomaterials used will be studied and the comparison with activated carbon will be made to determine the effectiveness of the carbon nanomaterials as potential support in heterogeneous catalysis. The heterogeneous distribution of the nanoparticles that will be use such as nickel, iron and cobalt were evidenced by bulk and surface structural and compositional characterizations, that is, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA). The significant of the application of carbon nanomaterials will be observed with the improvement in the catalytic efficiency of the chemical reaction. Various applications of carbon nanomaterials as support in heterogeneous catalysis can be seen in pharmaceutical, electrical, optical and mechanical applications

Low concentration CO2 capture using physical adsorbents: Are metal–organic frameworks becoming the new benchmark materials?

International audienc

Pressure Swing Adsorption Based Air Filtration/Purification Systems for NBC Collective Protection

The respiratory protection against chemical warfare agents (CWA) has become a worldwide security concern in light of the many recent international threats utilising CWA. Till date the carbon filtration was adequate to protect the soldiers from the threats of CWA. With the advent of further advancements in the CWA a new threat is looming large that is known as the carbon breakers. pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is a well-established gas separation technique in air separation, gas drying, and hydrogen purification separation. Recently, PSA technology has been applied in the area of chem-bio defence by virtue of its unique advantages. This article reviews recent advances and developments in the field of PSA based purification, separation, and its use in defense sector. This emerging and advanced PSA technology can provide regenerative nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) collective protection for ground vehicles, aircraft, ships and shelters. This PSA technology challenges threat scenario developed which includes nerve, blood and blister agents, as well as a “carbon breaker” agent, and proved that this technology will be a viable concept for future NBC collective protection systems. New technological breakthroughs and greater sophistication of PSA technologies will transform the collective protection based PSA technology in real field sense, addressing the escalating threat of CWA. We conclude this review with future prospects and challenges associated with PSA technology

Graphene-reinforced MOFs-derived nanocomposites for electrochemical applications

Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) are sub-family of metal organic frameworks with structures similar to traditional aluminosilicate zeolities. Consequently, ZIFs exhibit zeolite-type topologies with crystal structures, ultrahigh surface area, and excellent chemical and thermal stability, which makes ZIFs being an attractive candidate in various potential applications. Moreover, ZIF materials can act as outstanding templates or precursors to produce metal components on porous carbon nanocomposites, leading to a wide range of applications in energy storage and electrochemical utilisations. On the other hand, porous graphene could effectively avoid the stacking of graphene sheets, generating materials with high surface areas. Porous graphene can not only offer large aspect ratios which enhances the stability of porous frameworks to prevent collapse, but also provide the possibilities of multiple interactions with various species, both at the surface and through their porous frameworks, benefiting a rapid transportation of ions/molecules or charge carriers through the porous channels. In this thesis, the synthesis of ZIFs and graphene oxide (GO) derived nanocomposites were demonstrated and fully characterised. Moreover, the renewable-energy-related applications of these functional nanostructured derivatives were also evaluated and analysed. In brief, the main findings are as follows: 1. Developed a facile approach to produce highly efficient graphene-based cobalt sulfide and porous carbon composites, converted from one-step in-situ synthesised GO/ZIF-67 composites via sulfurisation and carbonisation at high temperatures. Different characterisation techniques have confirmed the CoS nanoparticles were homogeneously dispersed in carbon matrix. Moreover, the obtained nanocomposites exhibit much improved electrochemistry performance comparing with the reference material without graphene, and the electrocatalytic activities of the composites can be tuned by adjusting graphene content in the composites. 2. Apart from single metal sulfide, explorative research work were also performed to understand the potential of bi-metallic ZIF-67 derived nanocomposites. Homogenously dispersed nickel promoted cobalt sulfide/N, S co-doped carbon/graphene and iron promoted cobalt sulfide/N, S co-doped carbon/graphene have been successfully prepared via sulfurisation and carbonisation from Ni-substituted GO/ZIF-67 and Fe-substituted GO/ZIF-67, respectively. Due to the joint effect of graphene, N, S co-doped porous carbon and abundant metal-N moieties, the obtained nanocomposites exhibit not only remarkable OER catalytic activities with lowest onset/over potential, but also excellent HER activities with high current density and low onset potential, making them potential bifunctional electrocatalyst in water splitting. 3. Moreover, the derivatives of bi-metallic Fe-substituted GO/ZIF-67 have been further investigated. Iron promoted cobalt based nanoparticles homogeneously embedded in N-doped porous carbon and graphene via a facile one-step carbonisation of the in-situ as-synthesised composite. The obtained nanocomposites exhibit excellent electrochemical activities, which makes them promising electrode materials for catalysis and energy applications, owing to the increased surface area, hierarchical porous graphene and carbon structure, and bi-metal anchoring effect. Moreover, iron promoted cobalt oxide nanoparticles embedded in N-doped graphene and porous carbon by an efficient two-step carbonisation and oxidation of Fe-substituted GO/ZIF-67 has also been successfully developed. Due to the triple synergistic effect between iron oxide, cobalt oxides and N-doped porous graphene and carbon, the as-synthesised nanocomposites exhibit remarkable bifunctional activities towards both OER and HER in water splitting. 4. In addition, in all the studied mono- or bi-metallic component system, the effect of graphene oxide content as well as the sulfurisation/ carbonisation temperature have been well explored and optimised. It was found that the resultant nanocomposite sulfurised and carbonised at 800 °C, exhibited promising high-efficient catalytic activities. Meanwhile, owing to the introduction of a certain amount of graphene providing an increased electrical conductivity and more catalytic active sites, the optimum 5 wt% graphene contained nanocomposite shows the most remarkable electrochemical performance within the studied range of graphene content (up to 10 wt%).Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Virtual Special Issue on Catalysis at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Laboratories

Catalysis research at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Laboratories covers a wide range of research topics in heterogeneous catalysis, homogeneous/molecular catalysis, biocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and surface science. Since much of the work at National Laboratories is funded by DOE, the research is largely focused on addressing DOE’s mission to ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental, and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. The catalysis research carried out at the DOE National Laboratories ranges from very fundamental catalysis science, funded by DOE’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), to applied research and development (R&D) in areas such as biomass conversion to fuels and chemicals, fuel cells, and vehicle emission control with primary funding from DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. National Laboratories are home to many DOE Office of Science national scientific user facilities that provide researchers with the most advanced tools of modern science, including accelerators, colliders, supercomputers, light sources, and neutron sources, as well as facilities for studying the nanoworld and the terrestrial environment. National Laboratory research programs typically feature teams of researchers working closely together, often joining scientists from different disciplines to tackle scientific and technical problems using a variety of tools and techniques available at the DOE national scientific user facilities. Along with collaboration between National Laboratory scientists, interactions with university colleagues are common in National Laboratory catalysis R&D. In some cases, scientists have joint appointments at a university and a National Laboratory. This ACS Catalysis Virtual Special Issue {http://pubs.acs.org/page/accacs/vi/doe-national-labs} was motivated by Christopher Jones and Rhea Williams, who sent out the invitations to all of DOE’s National Laboratories where catalysis research is conducted. All manuscripts submitted went through the standard rigorous peer review required for publication in ACS Catalysis. A total of 29 papers are published in this virtual special issue, which features some of the recent catalysis research at 11 of DOE’s National Laboratories: Ames Laboratory (Ames), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Sandia National Laboratory (SNL), and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC). In this preface, we briefly discuss the history and impact of catalysis research at these particular DOE National Laboratories, where the majority of catalysis research continues to be conducted