Microstructural, Thermal, and Adsorption Properties of Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-8 Synthesized by a Facile Method

Abstract

The objective of the present research work is to green and facile synthesis of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) metal-organic framework (MOF). Series of ZIF-8 (ZMOFs) have been synthesized by a facile mixing method with varying amounts of methanol as the reaction medium. The volume of methanol has been reduced up to 75% with respect to the required volume reported in the literature. All the synthesized ZMOFs show the crystallographic phase and chemical structure of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) with reasonably high thermal stability. The specific surface area of the synthesized ZMOFs lies between 1185-1325 m2g-1 and the pore volume between 0.51-0.56 cm3g-1. A decrease in the solvent volume results in a significant decrease in the product yield but has very little effect on the crystallinity, crystallographic phase, and pore characteristics of the synthesized ZMOFs.