(478d) Emulsion Templated Polymers As Supports for Metal Organic Frameworks

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) have been used for a variety of laboratory scale applications, including adsorption, catalysis, and gas storage. In order to become industrially relevant and to broaden their potential uses MOF powders must be made more mechanically stable and shaped into forms that are more easily handled. Emulsion templated polymers offer an ideal supporting structure, producing rigid MOF-polymer composites with permanent interconnected macroporosity. The polymer pore structure would allow the creation of large, three dimensional composite bodies while maintaining high overall permeability and access to MOF even within the bulk of the structure.

We have successfully incorporated MOF particles into two different emulsion templated polymer systems by embedding it before polymerization begins. Both surfactant stabilized and particle stabilized emulsions have been examined, as have a variety of other variables including emulsion internal phase volume, crosslinker content, MOF surface chemistry, and inclusion of solvent porogens. The effect of these variables on MOF accessibility was determined by measuring the BET surface area and the ambient temperature CO₂ adsorption capacity of the composites. Additionally, microbreakthrough measurements have been used to determine the ability of the composites to act as a barrier to toxic chemicals.