Síntese de Cu-MOFs via método eletroquímico: caracterização e aplicação na adsorção de azul de metileno

Abstract

The metal organic frameworks (MOF's) are hybrid materials, generally crystalline, consisting of metallic atoms or metallic clusters, coordinated to polyfunctional organic ligands, generally observing the presence of pores/channels in nanometer dimensions. Their structures shows low density due to the porosity, have high surface area and a high pore volume, which lead to the prominent place of scientific-technological area, applicable in various fields as catalysis, adsorption, separation, gases storage, drug delivery, etc. Cu-MOFs were synthesized by the electrochemical method, using the 1,3-H2BDC and 1,4-H2BDC linkers in different H2O/DMF solvent proportions. The influence of electrochemical variables of process, such as voltage and electric current, and their influence on the final structure of the material was examined. The materials were obtained within one hour, showing that this method is kinetically advantageous for the preparation of the copper network. The product of the synthesis of Cu (1,4-BDC) network is composed of two lamellar (layered) and microporous crystalline structures. The formation of different structures are directly relate to the electrical current condition imposed on the synthesis. The two structures differ mainly by the displacement between subsequent layers, 60° and 120°, respectively. The displacement of the layers resulted in structures with different channels volumes, where the structure with 60° of displacement presents channels with greater volume, what may be applicable in adsorption. This structure, called Cu(1,4-BDC)2, was applied for the blue methylene adsorption, where the study of the influence of pH, temperature and concentration was performed. It revealed that for pH values between 5.0 and 6.0 there is an increased amount of the adsorbed dye. Different conditions were tested, such as concentrations between 25 and 250 mg/L and temperatures between 293.15 and 313.15 K. Varying concentrations of the dye solution, the kinetic factors, thermodynamic and equilibrium for adsorption, were evaluated. It was find that the kinetic model of pseudo-second order is the most compatible with the process. For the thermodynamic factors, it was find that the process is exothermic, spontaneous and has the highest efficiency at 293.15 K. Two models were tested for adsorption isotherm, the Langmuir and Freundlich, and the most compatible with the data was the Langmuir model, theoretically predicting a maximum adsorption capacity of 76.63 μmol/g, and for the optimized conditions (14 hours), the capacity obtained experimentally was 75.91 μmol/g, (99.06% theoretical). Reuse tests of the material were carried out and it was found that the material can reach the reuse efficiencies higher than 60% for up to four adsorption/desorption recycles.