Robust and Sustainable Synthesis of Al-Based MOFs from Waste Aluminium

Abstract

Aluminium MOFs have gained researchers attention for their applications in gas sequestration, water harvesting, drug delivery and chemical storage. Current synthetic methods, however, rely on a variety of aluminium salts for synthesis of MOFs within the same family and are not the most efficient sources of aluminium. Herein, we demonstrate a robust synthetic pathway to MOFs CAU-9, CAU-10 (-NO2,-NH2,-N3), CAU-10-py, CAU-15, CAU-21, MIL-53(Al)-TCD, MOF-303 and Al-Fum from aluminium formate, a compound that we have previously synthesized from industrial aluminium waste. We replace commercial aluminium salts with sustainably sourced aluminium, reducing the amount of waste and harmful byproducts, all by using a common aluminium precursor.