Applications of Metal-Organic Frameworks

“University of California Berkeley researchers have designed an extreme-weather proven, hand-held device that can extract and convert water molecules from the air into drinkable water using only ambient sunlight as its energy source, a study published in Nature Water shows. This atmospheric water harvester used an ultra-porous material known as a metal-organic framework (MOF) to extract water repeatedly in the hottest and driest place in North America, Death Valley National Park. These tests showed the device could provide clean water anywhere, addressing an urgent problem, as climate change exacerbates drought conditions. "Almost one-third of the world's population lives in water-stressed regions. The UN projects in the year 2050 that almost 5 billion people on our planet will experience some kind of water stress for a significant part of the year," said Omar Yaghi, the Berkeley chemistry professor who invented MOFs and is leading this study. "This is quite relevant to harnessing a new source for water." Other kinds of materials such as hydrogels, zeolites or salts cannot operate in low-humidity conditions, in an energy-efficient manner and with a high capacity all at once. MOF-powered harvesters can, making them an exceptionally powerful tool to address water scarcity issues related to anything from drinking water to agriculture. This technology can also be used to secure pure water in regions where water is abundant, but not clean. The study illustrates one way specially-designed MOFs could help society combat and adapt to climate change. Experts at the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society's Bakar Institute of Digital Materials for the Planet (BIDMaP) are using data science and machine learning to accelerate and scale up the designing of these molecules, materials and devices. "What we're doing at BIDMaP is creating what I call the 'digital innovation cycle' to connect the molecule, the material and how the material is configured and fits into the device including the actual device design, its efficiency and performance," said Yaghi, co-director and chief scientist of BIDMaP. "All of these are connected, and each part has to be optimized to get the highest performance." The authors of the study, "MOF water harvester produces water from Death Valley desert air in ambient sunlight," are Woochul Song, Zhiling Zheng, Ali Alawadhi and Yaghi. They are affiliated with Berkeley's Department of Chemistry, Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute and BIDMaP. https://lnkd.in/gQz24Pyz

Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) and their Applications in Detection, Conversion, and Depletion of Nitroaromatic Pollutants   Inorg. Chem. Commun., 160, 111982 (2024).   As major threats to the environment, nitroaromatics have been found in large quantities in the effluents from various chemical industries as consequence of global industrialization. Therefore, their rapid detection and catalytic transformation to safer entities has garnered immense attention. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are highly porous crystalline networks resulting from coordination polymerization and comprise metal ions/clusters and organic ligands in one-, two- and three-dimensional structures; they can be applied in the detection, catalytic conversion, and depletion of nitroaromatics. In this context, the focus has lately shifted towards the synthesis of greener nano-MOFs (NMOFs) in aqueous media based on heterogeneous catalytic reactions to attain sustainable structures for nitroaromatics depletion. Herein, the most recent developments pertaining to the detection, conversion, and depletion of nitroaromatic pollutants using MOFs are deliberated. The synthesis of MOFs from a greener perspective is highlighted to meet sustainability objectives. The structural manipulation of greener NMOFs, via an array of transition metals and organic linkers coordinated in a network are underscored with hydrophobic or hydrophilic attributes and the ability of esterification and static quenching to enhance their efficiency for adsorption of pollutants. Major challenges associated with the sustainable and greener synthesis of NMOFs for the remediation of nitroaromatics are covered.   Read the review article here: https://lnkd.in/gBmh7hms    

This sounds promising. A way to convert methane and ethane to methanol and ethanol, to utilize otherwise flared natural gas at oil wells. ========================= "Capturing natural gas from petroleum drilling wells is economically challenging, but would have positive environmental impacts because it would eliminate the need for flaring and could allow the hydrocarbons to be converted into useful chemicals. Now, research led by chemists at the University of California at Berkeley in partnership with scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Max Planck Institutes, Argonne National Laboratory, Northwestern University and several others, shows a potential way toward capturing value from natural gas that would otherwise be wasted. The technique uses metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to convert methane and other components of natural gas into alcohols. The alcohols could be transported from wellheads as feedstock for other processes. ... The research team is now focusing on the engineering aspects of the conversion, trying to determine a flow-reactor design that would allow natural gas and a co-factor (a source for necessary electrons in the reaction) to catalytically convert methane and ethane to methanol and ethanol in a continuous process. Börgel said that if it proves efficient at producing alcohols with less energy input than current processes, it might also be useful in large-scale facilities." https://lnkd.in/gW8uigRa