High Methane Storage Working Capacity in Metal-Organic Frameworks with Acrylate Links

High methane storage capacity in porous materials is important for the design and manufacture of vehicles powered by natural gas. Here, we report the synthesis, crystal structures and methane adsorption properties of five new zinc metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), MOF-905, MOF-905-Me2, MOF-905-Naph, MOF-905-NO2, and MOF-950. All these MOFs consist of the Zn4O(-CO2)6 secondary building units (SBUs) and benzene-1,3,5-tri-β-acrylate, BTAC. The permanent porosity of all five materials was confirmed, and their methane adsorption measured up to 80 bar to reveal that MOF-905 is among the best performing methane storage materials with a volumetric working capacity (desorption at 5 bar) of 203 cm(3) cm(-3) at 80 bar and 298 K, a value rivaling that of HKUST-1 (200 cm(3) cm(-3)), the benchmark compound for methane storage in MOFs. This study expands the scope of MOF materials with ultrahigh working capacity to include linkers having the common acrylate connectivity.