A Microporous Metal–organic Framework with Triangular Channels for C2H6/C2H4 Adsorption Separation

For separation of ethylene (C2H4) and ethane (C2H6), pressure swing adsorption (PSA) with C2H6-selective porous materials is considered as an ideal alternative to traditional energy-intensity cryogenic distillation. Inspired by the geometry complement feature between molecular lock and target in molecular imprinting recognition system, herein, we select the microporous metal-organic framework Fe-2(BDP)(3) with triangular channels as study object and investigate its adsorption separation performance for C2H6/C2H4. The experiment results indicate that Fe-2(BDP)(3) exhibits the higher C2H6 uptake than C2H4 and a considerable C2H6/C2H4 selectivity (2.1). Theoretical calculations reveal the better geometry complementarity between triangle channels and configuration-variable trifurcate C2H6 than rigid plane-like C2H4 play a key role for reversed adsorption relationship. The breakthrough experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of Fe-2(BDP)(3) for C2H6/C2H4 adsorption separation under ambient conditions.