Probing adsorption sites of carbon dioxide in metal organic framework of [Zn(bdc)(dpds)]n: A molecular simulation study

We used force-field based grand-canonical Monte Carlo simulation method and density functional theory to study adsorption characteristics of carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules in a metal-organic framework (MOF) compound, [Zn(bdc)(dpds)]n. The studied MOF include a metal ion (Zn(II)), an anion organic linker (dianion of benzene dicarboxylicacid, bdc2−) and a neutral organic linker (4,4′-dipyridyldisulfide, dpds). Results from calculated adsorption isotherms and enthalpies of adsorption agree with the experimental data. The interactions between the adsorbed CO2 and the organic linkers were examined in simulations. Calculated results show available absorption sites are surrounded by two dpds ligands in which an S-S bond as an N-N′ spacer connect two pyridines. In contrast, the bdc2− ligand does not give a significant contribution to the substantial adsorption amount even though it contains the carboxylate group that provides available bonding site to CO2.