THE ELEMENT
How MOFs are being, and could be, used to combat climate change Metal-Organic Frameworks, or MOFs, are a class of materials which are increasingly being found and used in the world today. They are compounds made up of metal ions and organic molecules (ligands) that form structured frameworks. This gives them the ability to take-up, hold, and release molecules from their pores, similar to sponges. More than 20,000 MOFs have been discovered in the last 20 years, and this number is predicted to grow in the future.
Due to the highly structured framework of pores, MOFs have the largest surface areas per gram of any material. This gives MOFs enhanced abilities in offering more space for chemical reactions and the adsorption of molecules. Not only is the large surface area responsible for the boom in the growth of MOFs, but the metals and organic ligands which make up the framework can be combined in an almost infinite number of ways to create new materials. This creates a lot of 28
possibilities by changing the functionality of the MOF. Use of MOFs in capturing carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide levels have increased dramatically due to the increased burning o f fossil fuels. One of the most effective ways to combat this issue is to capture and store the carbon dioxide (known as carbon capture, or sequestration). The captured carbon dioxide can then be converted into valuable products, such as chemical fuel (methane) or industrial raw materials (for example, plastic). However, current methods of carbon capture are very expensive, intensive, and they are not able to keep up with the rate at which carbon dioxide is generated. MOFs are proving to be very effective in capturing carbon dioxide due to the large surface area, their solid state which makes them very easy to handle, the differing pore sizes for selective adsorption of gases from gas mixtures, and the modifiable functional groups for selective adsorption of gases.
