Water
vapor sorption by metal–organic frameworks (MOFs)
has gathered significant interest because of its prominent potential
in many applications such as moisture harvesting, dehumidification,
heat pump regulation, and hydrolysis catalysis. However, the reticular
design and exploration of robust and high-performing Zr-MOFs for such
purposes remains a sought-after endeavor. In this work, we present
the deployment of reticular chemistry to target a series of robust
Zr-MOFs based on a unique [2.2]paracyclophane (PCP) scaffold. The
ease of functionalization of PCP enables the desired synthesis of
three carboxylate linkers, one ditopic and two tetratopic, which further
assemble into a total of five Zr-MOFs with distinct topological structures,
i.e., a new 2D net (NU-700), fcu (NU-405), flu (NU-1800), she (NU-602), scu (NU-913).
Notably, the water vapor sorption performances of all the Zr-MOFs
are highly dependent on their framework topology and pore metric,
in which NU-602 and NU-913 with uniform 1D channels exhibit S-shaped
water sorption isotherms with a steep pore-filling step and high uptake
capacities of 0.72 g g–1 at 70% relative humidity
(RH) and 0.88 g g–1 at 60% RH, respectively. Moreover,
NU-913 displays exceptionally high working capacity of 0.72 g g–1 in the range of 40–60% RH. Additionally, we
demonstrate that the hydrolytic stability and water adsorption-desorption
recyclability of NU-913 can be remarkably improved by capping the
Zr6 nodes with the more hydrophobic agent, trifluoroacetic
acid, making it a potential candidate for water sorption-based applications.