Dr. Fan Shi

Research Fellow
B.S.: Nanjing University of Technology: Nanjing, China
M.S.: Nanjing University of Technology: Nanjing, China
Ph.D: University of Pittsburgh

fanshi@umich.edu

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs, also known as coordination polymers) have received wide attention because certain MOF formulations have demonstrated BET surface areas in excess of 4000 m²/g. They are likely promising alternatives to zeolites and other nanoporous materials for the storage of gases, adsorption separations, and even catalysis. However, these materials do not possess catalytically active sites, which may limit their application for reaction, adsorption and separation. Recently reported MOF-supported catalysts have been demonstrated with BET surface areas less than 1000 m²/g, which is less than a half the surface area of freshly-prepared MOFs.

In our lab, MOFs have been functionalized by dispersing nano-structured molybdenum carbide domains, which possess active properties for selective adsorption, separation, and catalysis. Up to 19 wt% of active molybdenum has been successfully dispersed on MOF-5. The surface areas for all of the functionalized MOF-5 sorbents were more than 1800 m²/g.

One of the applications of these functionalized MOFs now is for selective adsorption of organosulfur compounds directly from liquid fuels. This process has emerged as a very attractive strategy for deep desulfurization due to its low energy requirements (ambient operation conditions) and low operation costs (little or no hydrogen consumption).

Pore size distributions for MOF-5 and several MoCx/MOF-5 sorbents

SEM micrograph of MOF-5