Researchers from RIKEN’s Harima Institute have designed a unique version of a high Surface Area material known as Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs).  Their version of these ‘lego-like’ scaffolding have two different size pores useful in manipulating metals to interact with carbon, hydrogen and oxygen molecules.

The larger pores could be helpful in separating alcohol Gases from water in creation of fuels from biomass, while the smaller pores can be used to store hydrogen as a solid.

We have featured a number of stories (below) on MOFs, and believe they are on a solid development path towards commercialization in a wide range of energy applications. 

First synthesized in the mid 1990s, MOFs have the highest Surface area of any known material.  They can be used for 'separating (carbon-hydrogen rich) gases, acting as catalysts to speed up chemical reactions, and for storing gases as solids.' 

The future of energy will be based on our mastering of interactions between basic units like light, molecules, and metals. MOFs provide human beings with a platform of unprecedented surface area that increase our ability to manipulate these interactions.  They might play a critical role in enabling a new era of energy systems that go beyond 'extraction' of hydrocarbon reserves.

Why Science, Not Consumerism, is Needed to Move beyond the ‘Extraction’ Era of Energy

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, mofs, mof, hydrogen, carbon, biofuels, electricity, chemistry, transportation, gases