Nanospace Engineering of Metal–Organic Frameworks through Dynamic Spacer Installation of Multifunctionalities for Efficient Separation of Ethane from Ethane/Ethylene Mixtures

Abstract Herein, a dynamic spacer installation (DSI) strategy has been implemented to construct a series of multifunctional metal—organic frameworks (MOFs), LIFM‐61/31/62/63, with optimized pore space and pore environment for ethane/ethylene separation. In this respect, a series of linear dicarboxylic acids were deliberately installed in the prototype MOF, LIFM‐28, leading to a dramatically increased pore volume (from 0.41 to 0.82 cm 3 g −1 ) and reduced pore size (from 11.1×11.1 Å 2 to 5.6×5.6 Å 2 ). The increased pore volume endows the multifunctional MOFs with much higher ethane adsorption capacity, especially for LIFM‐63 (4.8 mmol g −1 ), representing nearly three times as much ethane as the prototypical counterpart (1.7 mmol g −1 ) at 273 K and 1 bar. Meanwhile, the reduced pore size imparts enhanced ethane/ethylene selectivity of the multifunctional MOFs. Theoretical calculations and dynamic breakthrough experiments confirm that the DSI is a promising approach for the rational design of multifunctional MOFs for this challenging task.