Dispersion of nickel nanoparticles in the cages of metal-organic framework: An efficient sorbent for adsorptive removal of thiophene

•Nickel was fabricated on MIL-101 for the first time by ultrasonic assisted impregnation.•High surface area and large pore volume of MIL-101 promoted high Ni dispersion.•The present strategy save time and energy for functionalization of Ni-based MOFs.•This investigation may open an avenue of research on Ni based MOFs.

Nickel NPs (<2 nm) were confined in highly porous metal organic framework (MOF; here, MIL-101(Cr)) via a facile strategy at ambient conditions. With the characterization of HRTEM, XRD, N2 physisorption, SEM, XPS, TPR, FT-IR, NH3-TPD, ICP-OES, and TG-DTG, the resulting nickel NPs up to 20 wt% first-ever were detected to be uniformly dispersed, smaller in size and easily reducible in MIL-101(Cr) cages retaining their original crystal structure. The efficiencies of the new sorbents in adsorptive removal of thiophene were investigated. Compared with pristine MIL-101, the capacity of sulfur adsorption of modified MIL-101 enhanced for thiophene, and obey the order 20Ni-MIL-101 > 10Ni-MIL-101 > 30Ni-MIL-101 > MIL-101. The improved adsorption properties were linked with surface chemistry and texture of MIL-101 support. Pseudo second-order kinetic and Langmuir models showed best fit of thiophene adsorption on MIL-101 and Ni-containing MIL-101 samples. Moreover, the rate controlling step for thiophene adsorption was intraparticle diffusion.

Graphical abstractAdsorptive desulfurization of thiophene on 20Ni-MIL-101 sorbent.Download high-res image (234KB)Download full-size image