The chemistry of metal-organic frameworks for CO₂ capture, regeneration and conversion

The carbon dioxide challenge is one of the most pressing problems facing our planet. Each stage in the carbon cycle - capture, regeneration and conversion - has its own materials requirements. Recent work on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) demonstrated the potential and effectiveness of these materials in addressing this challenge. In this Review, we identify the specific structural and chemical properties of MOFs that have led to the highest capture capacities, the most efficient separations and regeneration processes, and the most effective catalytic conversions. The interior of MOFs can be designed to have coordinatively unsaturated metal sites, specific heteroatoms, covalent functionalization, other building unit interactions, hydrophobicity, porosity, defects and embedded nanoscale metal catalysts with a level of precision that is crucial for the development of higher-performance MOFs. To realize a total solution, it is necessary to use the precision of MOF chemistry to build more complex materials to address selectivity, capacity and conversion together in one material.