title: Nanoporous Materials Can Tune the Critical Point of a Pure Substance.
abstract: Molecular simulations and NMR relaxometry experiments demonstrate that pure benzene or xylene confined in isoreticular metal-organic frameworks (IRMOFs) exhibit true vapor-liquid phase equilibria where the effective critical point may be reduced by tuning the structure of the MOF. Our results are consistent with vapor and liquid phases extending over many MOF unit cells. These results are counterintuitive since the MOF pore diameters are approximately the same length scale as the adsorbate molecules. As applications of these materials in catalysis, separations, and gas storage rely on the ability to tune the properties of adsorbed molecules, we anticipate that the ability to systematically control the critical point, thereby preparing spatially inhomogeneous local adsorbate densities, could add a new design tool for MOF applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 (USA).
authors.forename: Efrem
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 (USA).
authors.forename: Joseph J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 (USA).|Department of Chemistry, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim (Norway).
authors.forename: Sondre K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Schnell
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 (USA).|Department of Process and Energy, Delft University of Technology, Leeghwaterstraat 39, 2628 CB Delft (The Netherlands).
authors.forename: Li-Chiang
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 (USA). reimer@berkeley.edu.|Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720 (USA). reimer@berkeley.edu.
authors.forename: Jeffrey A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Reimer
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 (USA). berend-smit@berkeley.edu.|Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720 (USA). berend-smit@berkeley.edu.|Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 (USA). berend-smit@berkeley.edu.|Institut des Sciences et Ingénierie Chimiques (ISIC), Valais, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Rue de l'Industrie 17, CH-1951 Sion (Switzerland). berend-smit@berkeley.edu.
authors.forename: Berend
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Smit
keywords: NMR relaxometry; metal-organic frameworks; microporous materials; phase diagrams; phase transitions