Nanoporous Metal Organic Framework Filters for Removal of Gaseous Pollutants

The objective of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of using some newly discovered materials, water-stable metal-organic frameworks (MOF), as filters for pollutants common in indoor air. By way of background, recent Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)-supported work from Professor Masel’s laboratory has shown that a new class of water-stable MOFs shows unprecedented adsorption capacity for a chemical weapons agent stimulant:  0.23 g of dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) per cc of adsorbent at room temperature. The materials are stable in air and do not adsorb water. Synthesis can be done in less than 1 minute using a household microwave. In this Phase I project, Cbana Labs will modify the materials for creating porous networks of the materials that are suitable for toxic industrial capture (TIC), build pellets and other low pressure drop structures, and test metals and dyes for enhancing the ability of materials for TIC and indicating the presence of the compounds.