Designing of Organic Bridging Linkers of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Enhanced Carbon Dioxide Adsorption

TL;DR

This study explores how modifying MOF linkers, especially with lithium decoration, can enhance CO2 adsorption by analyzing interaction energies and stability, guiding the development of better carbon capture materials.

Contribution

It introduces a molecular-level analysis of CO2 adsorption on MOF linkers and demonstrates how lithium decoration improves binding strength, providing insights for designing more effective adsorbents.

Findings

Weak CO2 adsorption on pristine linkers

Li-decoration significantly enhances binding strength

Electrostatic and polarization energies dominate interactions

Abstract

The global rate of anthropogenic CO2 emission is rising, which urges the development of efficient carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. Among the various CO2 capture methods, adsorption by the linkers of the Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) materials has received more interest as excellent CO2 adsorbents because of their important role in understanding the interaction mechanism for CO2 adsorption. Here, we investigate the adsorption of CO2 molecules at the center and side positions of several MOF-linkers using molecular cluster models. The interaction between CO2 and the linkers is approximated by computing the binding enthalpy ({\Delta}H) through the first principles-based Density Functional Theory with Grimmes dispersion correction (i.e., B3LYP-D3) and second-order Moller Plesset Theory (MP2). The computed values of {\Delta}H indicate the weak nature of CO2 adsorption on the pristine linkers, hence the strategy of lithium decoration is used to see its impact on the binding strength. Among the various linkers tested, CO2 adsorbing at the side position of the DFBDC-2 linker has strong adsorption with {\Delta}H value of about -35.32 kJ/mol computed by the B3LYP-D3 method. The Energy Decomposition Analysis (EDA) study reveals that among all the energy terms, the contribution of electrostatic and polarization energy terms to the {\Delta}H value are the most dominant one. Furthermore, the results of Frontier Molecular Orbital Analysis (FMO) revealed that all the linkers remained stable even after Li-decoration. The results of our investigations will direct towards the development and synthesis of novel adsorbents with enhanced CO2 adsorption.