Molecular modelling of adsorption in novel nanoporous metal–organic materials

Abstract

Grand canonical Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations have been performed for methane, n-alkanes, cyclohexane and benzene in two novel nanoporous metal–organic materials. The first material, bipyridine molecular squares, consists of discrete square molecules with corners formed by rhenium complexes and edges formed by bipyridine links, giving a small cavity within each square. The material is considered in both its crystalline form and an amorphous packing of squares. The second material is IRMOF-1, a periodic, crystalline structure also with metal corners and organic bridging units. Adsorption isotherms and self-diffusion coefficients are reported and provide insight into molecular interactions in these materials.

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the National Science Foundation for financial support. Tina Düren would like to specially thank the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for a research fellowship. We would also like to thank Don Ellis, Joseph Hupp, SonBinh Nguyen and Omar Yaghi for helpful discussions.