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Table 1: Unit cell length (Fm3m), ligand size (L size), and polyhedron
Table 2: Surface areas, pore volumes, and porosities of the isoreticular
size of the isoreticular PCN-6X MOF series.
PCN-6X MOFs.
Material
Unit cell
length [ꢀ]
L
CubOh
size [ꢀ]
T-Td
size [ꢀ]
T-Oh
size [ꢀ]
Material
Surface area [m2 gÀ1
]
Pore volume [cm3 gÀ1
]
Porosity[a]
size [ꢀ][a]
(Langmuir/BET/calcd[a]) (exptl/calcd[a])
PCN-61
PCN-66
PCN-68
PCN-610
42.796
49.112
52.738
59.153
6.906
9.758
11.243
13.815
12.0
12.0
12.0
12.0
11.8
12.0
14.8
18.6
18.8
20.6
23.2
26.0
PCN-61
PCN-66
PCN-68
3500/3000/3455
4600/4000/3746
6033/5109/3871
1.36/1.37
1.63/1.75
2.13/2.17
NA/3.00
77.0%
80.0%
82.9%
86.8%
PCN-610[b] NA/NA/4160
[a] The ligand size is defined as the distance between the center of the
ligand and the center of a terminal benzene ring.
[a] Calculated using Material Studio 4.4. [b] NA=not available.
area of a framework increases with ligand extension in all
currently explored systems.[6] In reality, however, frameworks
built with long spacers tend to collapse after the removal of
guest molecules.[7] In addition, longer ligands may cause
framework interpenetration, resulting in a reduced surface
area or even a nonporous structure.[8] In the (3,24)-connected
network, the commonly encountered framework instability
accompanying ligand extension can be alleviated by using
dendritic ligands.[4] The isophthalate moiety of the ligand
produces cubOh with a fixed size, limiting the open window
sizes of the T-Td and T-Oh, although the sizes of the T-Td and
T-Oh will expand with the ligand extension. Thus, by using
ligands longer than those in PCN-61 and PCN-66, stable
MOFs with surface areas higher than those found in PCN-61
and PCN-66 can be made. This hypothesis will be examined in
PCN-68 and PCN-610.
sorption behavior, which is typical for materials with hier-
archical pore size distribution.[4] However, with PCN-610, in
which an even larger ligand was used, there is barely any
nitrogen sorption observed, implying a complete collapse of
the framework. The same conclusion is also drawn from the
powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) data, which reveal that
PCN-610 lost its crystallinity completely upon activation
(Figure S2 in the Supporting Information).
From the above discussion, it is evident that by using the
dendritic hexacarboxylate ligands, isoreticular MOFs with
higher surface areas can be obtained by ligand extension.
However, this approach, which is based on the formation of
cuboctahedra and a (3,24)-connected framework, has its
limitations. The ligand size that may lead to a stable MOF
with the highest surface areas in this series falls between ptei
(11.2 ꢀ) in PCN-68 and ttei (13.8 ꢀ) in PCN-610. In addition,
the (3,24)-connected network can incorporate ligands as large
as 11.2 ꢀ without framework decomposition, whereas in the
twisted boracite network, which is composed of tricarboxylate
ligands (less dendritic) and dimetal paddlewheels,[10] even a
ligand as small as 4.179 ꢀ (tatb, 4,4’,4’’-s-triazine-2,4,6-triyl-
tribenzoate) would lead to the disintegration of the PCN-6’
framework.[10c] It is our belief that dendritic ligands with more
branches will lead to stable MOFs that can tolerate more
extended ligands, leading to even higher surface areas.[11]
The high surface areas of the isoreticular PCN-6X series
of PCN-61, PCN-66, and PCN-68 prompted us to study their
gas-uptake capacity, especially that for hydrogen, methane,
and carbon dioxide.[2] Hydrogen is an ideal energy carrier.
However, the lack of an effective storage method hinders its
application. The US Department of Energy (DOE) recently
reset the gravimetric and volumetric storage targets for on-
To test the framework stability, nitrogen sorption meas-
urements were carried out in fully activated PCN-68 and
PCN-610. In PCN-68, a dramatic increase of nitrogen sorption
was observed (Figure 2). The BET surface area calculated on
board hydrogen storage for the year 2010 (4.5 wt%, 28 glÀ1
)
and 2015 (5.5 wt%, 40 glÀ1).[12] MOF-based hydrogen storage
has attracted remarkable attention recently because of its fast
kinetics and favorable thermodynamics in hydrogen adsorp-
tion and release.[3,9b,13] The hydrogen-uptake capacities of
PCN-6X series are shown in Figure 3. In the low-pressure
region (< 1 bar), the hydrogen-uptake capacity is mainly
controlled by the hydrogen affinity towards the framework,
which can be quantified by the isosteric heat of adsorption
(Figure S3 in the Supporting Information). PCN-61, which
has the smallest pore size, also has the highest heat of
adsorption and highest capacity (2.25 wt% at 77 K, 1 bar).
PCN-66 and PCN-68 have heats of adsorption and adsorption
capacities similar to each other (1.79 wt% in PCN-66 vs.
1.87 wt% in PCN-68). This trend is consistent with the nature
Figure 2. N2 sorption isotherms of PCN-61, PCN-66, and PCN-68 at
77 K.
the basis of the low-pressure region data can reach as high as
5109 m2 gÀ1, and the Langmuir surface area as high as
6033 m2 gÀ1. To the best of our knowledge, PCN-68 possesses
the highest surface area reported to date for MOFs based on
paddlewheel clusters, and it is also among the highest
reported (Table 2).[6a,9] The pore size data calculated on the
basis of nitrogen sorption isotherms are consistent with the
crystal data (Figure S1 in the Supporting Information). Care-
ful examination of the low-pressure region reveals stepwise
5358
ꢀ 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 5357 –5361