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Updated: May 8, 2026

Synthesis and Characterization of Functionalized Metal-organic Frameworks
Published on: September 5, 2014
Influence of Structural Determinants on Dihydrogen Adsorption and Isotopologue Separation in Nanoporous Metal-Organic
Sibo Chetry1, Prantik Sarkar2,3, Mahnaz Bakhtian1
1Faculty of Chemistry, Leipzig University, Johannisallee 29, Leipzig 04103, Germany.
Abstract:
Efficient separation of dihydrogen isotopologues, particularly D2, is critical for applications in nuclear energy technology and environmental sciences. Conventional methods, such as cryogenic distillation, are energy-intensive and provide limited selectivity (S ≈ 1.4). Here, we report a systematic evaluation of diverse MOFs with ultramicropores, open metal sites (OMS), and framework flexibility for D2/H2 separation. Thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) and adsorption studies revealed that ultramicroporous MOFs enable preferential D2 adsorption via kinetic quantum sieving, while bimetallic Ni-MOF-74(Co) achieves high selectivity (S = 52 at 77 K) through OMS-driven chemical affinity quantum sieving. Flexible MOFs, [Cu2(nPr-trz-ia)2] and [Cu2(Et-trz-ia)2], show temperature-responsive cryogenic flexibility with selectivities of 1.4-2.3 at 77 K. These findings highlight structural design as the key to advancing dihydrogen isotopologue separation at practical temperatures.
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