Toward Design Rules of Metal–Organic Frameworks for Adsorption Cooling: Effect of Topology on the Ethanol Working Capacity

Abstract

Using combined experimental and computational approaches, we studied the adsorption behavior of ethanol in a series of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with similar building blocks but different topologies and tested their performance as adsorption coolers. Here, we analyzed the relationship between the MOF structures and their ethanol working capacities under different working conditions. Molecular-level insights into the microscopic adsorption behavior were also gained from atomistic simulations. Based on the structure-property relationships that we found, we selected another MOF (MOF-525) for study, and our experiments and simulations both showed superior ethanol working capacity for this MOF, which verified our design rules.