Metal Organic Frameworks for the selective and efficient capture of formaldehyde

Addressing the challenge of purifying poor-quality indoor air while respecting the principles of sustainable development requires innovative, advanced sustainable materials. Coupling state-of-the-art spectroscopic techniques with theoreti-cal calculations, we revealed an advantageous mild chemisorption synergistic mechanism for trapping the most harmful indoor pollutant (i.e. formaldehyde) in a reversible way, without significant energy penalties for regeneration. Based on these data we have designed a facile green and scalable synthesis protocol, and shaped a porous water stable Al pyra-zole dicarboxylate metal-organic framework able to perform as a highly efficient reusable filter. This MOF, denoted Al-3.5-PDA or MOF-303, shows unprecedented selectivity and storage capacity for formaldehyde, in conditions repre-sentative of severe use in housing or vehicle cockpits (variable VOC mixtures and concentrations, humidity, tempera-ture), without any accidental release. Moreover, it can be easily regenerated by a domestic protocol guarantying reuse of the filter for a number of cycles representing at least 10 years of continuous use.