Metal organic frameworks with surface-grafted azobenzene for energy storage
摘要
This study grafted a bulky azobenzene derivative, 4′-aminoazobenzene-4-sulfonic acid (AABS), onto the surface of ZIF-90, thereby preparing a metal-organic framework material, ZIF-90-AABS (ZIF-AABS), with photothermal conversion effects. The template-like effect on the surface of ZIF-AABS enables the reversible cis-trans isomerization of AABS, allowing ZIF-AABS to achieve photochemical energy storage of 5.1 J g−1. Additionally, since AABS is mainly grafted on the surface of ZIF-90, ZIF-AABS retains the crystal structure of ZIF-90 and thus still can encapsulate and adsorb phase change materials (PCMs). By infiltrating the porous structure with the octadecyl alcohol (OD), a composite PCMs, OD/ZIF-AABS, was successfully developed, which effectively realizes phase change energy storage. The latent heat storage energy of OD/ZIF-AABS with maximum OD loading was 121.3 J g−1, and no significant performance degradation was observed after 50 melting/solidifying cycles. This work further expands the application scope of azobenzene and promotes the development of MOFs-based composites for solar energy storage.