A highly thermal stable microporous lanthanide–organic framework for CO2 sorption and separation

•A lanthanide–organic framework with high thermostability is reported.•1 exhibits open micropore and 6-connected topological structure.•1 shows much higher uptake of CO2 than that of CH4.

A new lanthanide–organic framework formulated as TbL 1 (H3L = 9-(4-carboxy-phenyl)-9H-carbazole-3,6-dicarboxylic acid), was synthesized under hydrothermal reaction condition. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis shows that 1 crystallizes in a hexagonal P65 space group with three-dimensional network and microporous structure. The desolventized framework of 1 shows much higher uptake of CO2 (43.7 cm3 g− 1) than that of CH4 (15.1 cm3 g− 1) at 1 atm and 273 K, which makes it a potential candidate for CO2/CH4 separation.

Graphical abstractA novel microporous Tb-based lanthanide–organic framework with a 6-connected topological structure exhibits high thermostability and selective adsorption capability for CO2 from CH4.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide