Synthesis and Catalytic Performance of Hierarchically Porous MIL-100(Fe)@polyHIPE Hybrid Membranes.

Sebastijan Kovačič, Matjaž Mazaj, Marjan Ješelnik, David Pahovnik, Ema Žagar, Christian Slugovc, Nataša Zabukovec Logar

Index: Macromol. Rapid Commun. 36 , 1605-11, (2015)

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Abstract

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) nanoparticles in combination with a nonionic surfactant (Pluronic L-121) are used to stabilize dicyclopentadiene (DCPD)-in-water high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs). The resulting HIPEs containing the MIL-100(Fe) nanoparticles (MIL: Materials of Institut Lavoisier) at the interface between the oil- and the water-phases are then cured, and 100 μm thick, fully open, hierarchically porous hybrid membranes are obtained. The properties of the MIL-100(Fe)@pDCPD polyHIPE membranes are characterized and it is found that up to 14 wt% of the MIL-100(Fe) nanoparticles are incorporated in the hybrid material resulting in an increase of the microporosity up to 130 m(2) g(-1). Hybrid membranes show an appealing catalytic activity in Friedel-Crafts alkylation in a batch mode as well as in a flow-through mode, thereby demonstrating the preserved accessibility of Lewis acidic sites in the MOF nanostructures.© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.