ZIF-8 derived carbon materials with multifunctional selective adsorption abilities.

We report a family of carbon materials (denoted SFZ8C) prepared from templated carbonization of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) in NaCl–ZnCl 2 eutectic salt. The hard-templating effect of the salt is utilized to sustain the framework and maximize the porosity during carbonization. In addition to rich surface nitrogen and oxygen species, SFZ8Cs have large specific surface area. These combined features give rise to excellent adsorption properties for light hydrocarbon gases. SFZ8Cs have both C 2 H 2 /CO 2 selective and C 3 /C 2 selective adsorption, as well as the ability to selectively remove impurities from methane. Particularly noteworthy is the excellent C 3 /C 2 selective adsorption performance by SFZ8C-900. Its propane/ethane selectivity (7.68) is on par with the best value (7.72) reported so far, yet SFZ8C-900 excels in propane uptake capacity. The multifunctional properties together with the ease for the mass production make SFZ8Cs promising for a number of important applications. Multifunctional Selective Adsorption: Using environmentally friendly solvent-free synthesized ZIF-8 as carbon precursors and NaCl–ZnCl 2 eutectic salt as hard template, porous carbon materials with rich nitrogen sites were obtained. They exhibit strong performance for multiple separation processes such as acetylene/carbon dioxide, three-carbon/two-carbon (C 3 /C 2), and impurity/methane. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]