Porous systems, including zeolitic/zeotypic materials, mesoporous silica, porous carbon, and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), are of interest as potential materials for the capture and storage of CO₂ emitted from industrial processes.

George Shimizu and co-workers, Universities of Calgary and Ottawa, Canada, have studied CO₂-sorbant interaction in MOFs to allow better design of carbon-capture systems. They have applied computational and crystallographic methods to study the binding nature of CO₂ to the amine-functionalized MOF, Zn₂(Atz)₂(ox) (At z= 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole; ox = oxalate).

The study finds that increased CO₂ uptake can be achieved through appropriately designed binding sites which maximize the electrostatic interactions with CO₂, proper mutual orientation, and high density of binding sites.

Image: (c) Heulwen Price/Wiley-VCH

• Direct observation and quantification of CO2 binding within an amine-functionalized nanoporous solid,
  R. Vaidhyanathan, S. S. Iremonger, G. K. H. Shimizu, P. G. Boyd, S. Alavi, T. K. Woo,
  Science 2010, 330 (6004), 650 – 653.
  DOI: 10.1126/science.1194237