In situ crystal growth of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF) on electrospun polyurethane nanofibers

Abstract

This paper reports for the first time in situ crystal growth of ZIF-8 on electrospun polyurethane (PU) nanofibers. In SEM images, continuous and compact ZIF-8 nanocrystals grow along electrospun PU nanofibers. The highest loading capacity of ZIF-8 on PU reaches 63%. By N₂ adsorption–desorption, ZIF-8-PU shows a high surface area of 566 cm² g⁻¹. Combining the good flexibility of PU with the high adsorption properties of ZIF-8, ZIF-8-PU can be easily tailored into clothes or other forms as adsorption material. Furthermore, the gas adsorption ability of ZIF-8-PU was measured for H₂, N₂, O₂ and CO₂ at room temperature (20 °C) under different pressure gradients. The results show that the adsorption capacity of ZIF-8-PU for CO₂ is nearly 11 times that for H₂, 50 times that for O₂ and 75 times that for N₂ at 800 mmHg.