Mechanochemical synthesis of Cu-BTC@GO with enhanced water stability and toluene adsorption capacity

• Cu-BTC@GO composites were successfully synthesized quickly by a solvent-free mechanochemical method in 30 min.
• Cu-BTC@GO-5 exhibited the highest BET surface area of 1362.7 m2/g.
• The water stability of the Cu-BTC@GO composites were significantly enhanced.
• Cu-BTC@GO-5 exhibited the maximum toluene uptake of 9.1 mmol/g at 298 K.

A solvent-free mechanochemical method is proposed to quickly synthesize composites (Cu-BTC@GO) of Cu-BTC and graphite oxide within 30 min. The resulting composites were characterized by N2 adsorption, PXRD, SEM, FT-IR and TG. Its water-stability and adsorption properties toward toluene vapor were examined. Results showed that mechanochemical method can quickly prepare the composites Cu-BTC@GOs by mechanical grinding without solvent. The resulting Cu-BTC@GOs had higher BET surface area and pore volume than the parent Cu-BTC, of which the composite Cu-BTC@GO-5 possessed the highest surface area of 1362.7 m2/g and total pore volume of 0.87 cm3/g and its toluene uptake up to 9.1 mmol/g at 298 K, having an increase of 47% in comparison with Cu-BTC, much higher than those of the conventional activated carbons and zeolites. More interestingly, its water-stability had greatly been enhanced. After soaked in water for 10 h, Cu-BTC@GO-5 still remained its structure and porosity and its BET surface area remained 1205 m2/g. It may be ascribed to the coordination between the oxygen groups in the GO and Cu2+ mental center in Cu-BTC. In contrast, the water-soaked Cu-BTC completely lost its structure and porosity. Its surface area decreased sharply to 20.7 m2/g from its initial surface area of 1188.3 m2/g, having a decrease of 98.2%. The application of mechanochemical synthesis to prepare composites Cu-BTC@GOs is an effective strategy for enhancing adsorption property and water-stability of Cu-BTC. The excellent water stability and high adsorption capacity of toluene would make Cu-BTC@GOs a promising candidate for practical applications in field of VOCs adsorption.

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