A Highly Efficient and Stable Composite of Polyacrylate and Metal–Organic Framework Prepared by Interface Engineering for Direct Air Capture

We present a kilogram-scale experiment for assessing the prospects of a novel composite material of metal–organic framework (MOF) and polyacrylates (PA), namely NbOFFIVE-1-Ni@PA, for trace CO2 capture. Through the interfacial enrichment of metal ions and organic ligands as well as heterogeneous crystallization, the sizes of microporous NbOFFIVE-1-Ni crystals are downsized to 200–400 nm and uniformly anchored on the macroporous surface of PA via interfacial coordination, forming a unique dual-framework structure. Specifically, the NbOFFIVE-1-Ni@PA composite with a loading of 45.8 wt % NbOFFIVE-1-Ni yields a superior CO2 uptake (ca. 1.44 mol·kg–1) compared to the pristine NbOFFIVE-1-Ni (ca. 1.30 mol·kg–1) at 400 ppm and 298 K, indicating that the adsorption efficiency of NbOFFIVE-1-Ni has been raised by 2.42 times. Meanwhile, the time cost for realizing a complete adsorption/desorption cycle in a fluidized bed has been shortened to 25 min, and the working capacity (ca. 0.84 mol·kg–1) declines only by 1.3% after 2000 cycles. The device is capable of harvesting 2.1 kg of CO2 per kilogram of composite daily from simulated air with 50% relatively humidity (RH). To the best of our knowledge, the excellent adsorption/desorption performances of NbOFFIVE-1-Ni@PA position it as the most advantageous and practically applicable candidate for trace CO2 capture.