Ab initio study of hydrogen adsorption in MOF-5

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising adsorbents for hydrogen storage. Density functional theory and second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) are used to calculate the interaction energies between H(2) and individual structural elements of the MOF-5 framework. The strongest interaction, DeltaH(77) = -7.1 kJ/mol, is found for the alpha-site of the OZn(4)(O(2)Ph)(6) nodes. We show that dispersion interactions and zero-point vibrational energies must be taken into account. Comparison of calculations done under periodic boundary conditions for the complete structure with those done for finite models cut from the MOF-5 framework shows that the interactions with H(2) originate mainly from the local environment around the adsorption site. When used within a Multi-Langmuir model, the MP2 results reproduce measured adsorption isotherms (the predicted amount is 6 wt % at 77 K and 40 bar) if we assume that the H(2) molecules preserve their rotational degrees of freedom in the adsorbed state. This allows to discriminate between different isotherms measured for different MOF-5 samples and to reliably predict isotherms for new MOF structures.