Low-temperature Cu(I) loading on a mesoporous Metal–Organic framework for adsorptive separation of C₃H₆/C₃H₈ mixtures

We incorporated Cu(I) ions into a mesoporous metal–organic framework (MOF) through facile method involving CuCl₂ loading, followed by reduction using Na₂SO₃ as reducing agent. The successful incorporation of Cu(I) ions was supported by various methods such as TEM-EDS, XPS and ICP-AES. Remarkably, the Cu(I) incorporation resulted in 4.2 times higher C₃H₆/C₃H₈ selectivity compared with the parent MOF as well as large C₃H₆ working capacity (1.3 mmol/g) at 10–100 kPa. Moreover, the Cu(I)-loaded MOF showed efficient separation of C₃H₆ from C₃H₈ under dynamic mixture flow conditions, easy regeneration under mild conditions, and good stability under atmospheric conditions.