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The separation of light olefins from paraffins using membrane technology is highly desired; however, synthetic polymer membranes generally suffer a pernicious trade-off between permeability and selectivity. Herein, we show that this limitation can be overcome by constructing selective gas transfer pathways in a polymer matrix, as demonstrated by incorporating composites of ionic liquids and zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) to form mixed-matrix membranes. Using propylene/propane separation as a model system, dramatic improvements in the propylene permeability of 218.4 Barrer and propylene/propane separation factor of 45.7 were achieved compared to the values obtained using individual components as a filler. The synergy between the high solubility of the gas molecules in ionic liquids and the size screening ability of ZIF exacerbates the difference in the transmission of propylene and propane, thus leading to superior separation performance. This work presents a promising strategy for the design of membranes for efficient gas separation.

This work describes a facile approach to modify metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with ionic liquids (ILs), rendering them as useful heterogeneous catalysts for CO2 chemical fixation. An amino-functionalized imidazolium-based ionic liquid is firmly grafted into the porous MOF, MIL-101-SO3H by the acid-base attraction between positively charged ammonium groups on the IL and negatively charged sulfonate groups from the MOF. Analyses by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, 1H NMR, and N2 sorption experiments reveal the MOF-supported ionic liquid (denoted as IL@MOF) material remains intact while functioning as a recyclable heterogeneous catalyst that can efficiently convert CO2 and epichlorohydrin into chloropropene carbonate without the addition of a cocatalyst.

The Co2P nanoparticles hybridized with unique N-doping carbon matrices have been successfully designed employing ZIF-67 as the precursor via a facile two-step procedure. The Co2P nanostructures are shielded with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to enhance electrical conductivity and mitigate volume expansion/shrinkage during sodium storage. As anode materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), the novel architectures of Co2P@N-C@rGO exhibited excellent sodium storage performance with a high reversible capacity of 225 mA h g-1 at 50 mA g-1 after 100 cycles. Our study demonstrates the significant potential of Co2P@N-C@rGO as anode materials for SIBs.

Metal–organic frameworks are a class of attractive materials for fluorescent sensing. Improvement of hydrolytic stability, sensitivity, and selectivity of function is the key to advance application of fluorescent MOFs in aqueous media. In this work, two stable MOFs, [Zr6O4(OH)8(H2O)4(L1)2] (BUT-14) and [Zr6O4(OH)8(H2O)4(L2)2] (BUT-15), were designed and synthesized for the detection of metal ions in water. Two new ligands utilized for construction of the MOFs, namely, 5′,5‴-bis(4-carboxyphenyl)-[1,1′:3′,1″:4″,1‴:3‴,1′′′′-quinquephenyl]-4,4′′′′-dicarboxylate (L1) and 4,4′,4″,4‴-(4,4′-(1,4-phenylene)bis(pyridine-6,4,2-triyl))tetrabenzoate (L2), are structurally similar with the only difference being that the latter is functionalized by pyridine N atoms. The two MOFs are isostructural with a sqc-a topological framework structure, and highly porous with the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface areas of 3595 and 3590 m2 g–1, respectively. Interestingly, they show intense fluorescence in water, which can be sol...