Fabrication of PA-PEI-MOF303(Al) by Stepwise Impregnation Layer-by-Layer Growth for Highly Efficient Removal of Ammonia

NH(3) is a typical alkaline gaseous pollutant widely derived from industrial production and poses great risks to humans and other biota. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have excellent adsorption capacities relative to materials traditionally used to adsorb NH(3). However, in practice, applications of MOFs as adsorbents are restricted because of its powder form. We prepared a polyamide (PA) macroporous polyester substrate using an emulsion template method and modified the surface with polyethylenimine (PEI) to improve the MOF growth efficiency on the substrate. The difficulty of loading the MOF because of the fast nucleation rate inside the PA macroporous polyester substrate was solved using a stepwise impregnation layer-by-layer (LBL) growth method, and a PA-PEI-MOF303(Al) hierarchical pore composite that very efficiently adsorbed NH(3) was successfully prepared. The PA-PEI-MOF303(Al) adsorption capacity for NH(3) was 16.07 mmol·g(−1) at 298 K and 100 kPa, and the PA-PEI-MOF303(Al) could be regenerated repeatedly under vacuum at 423 K. The NH(3) adsorption mechanism was investigated by in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and by performing two-dimensional correlation analysis. Unlike for the MOF303(Al) powder, the formation of multi-site hydrogen bonds between Al–O–Al/C–OH, N–H, –OH, C=O, and NH(3) in PA-PEI-MOF303(Al) was found to be an important reason for efficient NH(3) adsorption. This study will provide a reference for the preparation of other MOF-polymer composites.