Solid-state NMR Investigation of the Host-guest Interactions in Gas Adsorption and Chemical Separation Using MOFs as Adsorbents

Due to its sensitivity to the local geometries and chemical environments, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is widely applied to investigate the host-guest interactions between metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and guest molecules in the studies of gas adsorption and chemical separation. Multi-nuclear, multi-dimensional and variable temperature solid-state NMR is employed to investigate the adsorption behavior, primary adsorption sites, dynamic property, and self-diffusion coefficients of light hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide inside the MOFs channels. Moreover, solid-state NMR spectroscopy is utilized to determine the adsorption selectivity, visualize the preferential adsorption and uncover the separation mechanism of light alkane/alkene mixtures inside MOFs. Furthermore, solid-state NMR is used to explore the detailed host-guest interaction mechanism between common chemicals and MOFs adsorbents. All these findings provide insights into deep understanding of the structure-property relationship for the application of functional MOFs in gas adsorption and chemical separation.