Reticular Chemistry and Metal-Organic Frameworks for Clean Energy

Omar M. Yaghi, Qiaowei Li
2009 MRS bulletin  
Reticular chemistry concerns the linking of molecular building blocks into predetermined structures using strong bonds. We have been working on creating and developing the conceptual and practical basis of this new area of research. As a result, new classes of crystalline porous materials have been designed and synthesized: metal-organic frameworks, zeolitic imidazolate frameworks, and covalent organic frameworks. Crystals of this type have exceptional surface areas (2,000-6,000 m 2 /g) and
more » ... up voluminous amounts of hydrogen (7.5 wt% at 77 K and 3-4 × 10 6 Pa), methane (50 wt% at 298 K and 2.5 × 10 6 Pa), and carbon dioxide (140 wt% at 298 K and 3 × 10 6 Pa). We have driven the basic science all the way to applications without losing sight of our quest for understanding the underlying molecular aspects of this chemistry. The presentation was focused on the design concepts, synthesis, and structure of these materials, with emphasis on their applications to onboard energy storage. per acetate unit is a secondary building unit, and the geometry of the unit is defined by the points of extension (such as the carboxylate C atoms in most car boxylate MOFs). Having an assembly composed of metal-oxygen bonds,
doi:10.1557/mrs2009.180 fatcat:kyfr7n7e2vhgrcheysbn5g3gzq