Nanocellulose leaf-like zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-L) foams for selective capture of carbon dioxide

The last decades have been witness of an ever-growing interests for the synthesis and application of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). However, most of the current synthetic procedures produce MOFs in powder state. In this work, hybrid foams were fabricated via in situ synthesis of leaf-like zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF-L) into nanocellulose at room temperature using water as solvent, followed by a gelatin matrix incorporation and freeze-drying. The foams are ultralight weight and are highly porous with densities ranging from 19.18 to 37.4 kg·m^-3. The shapeability, hierarchical porosity, and low density of the formed foams offer promising potentials for applications such as CO₂ sorption. The dispersion of ZIF-L into the cellulose network increases the material accessibility and may open new venues for further MOFs processing.