Extrusion of MOF-Polymer Nanocomposites with High MOF Loadings

While metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) hold great promise for a wide range of industrial applications, the challenges of handling fine crystalline powders have limited their adoption. MOF-polymer composites are one solution to this challenge, as composites or membranes are substantially easier to handle, however most existing MOF-polymer composites have low MOF loadings and suffer MOF leaching due to the weak interactions between the MOF and the polymer. In this work, we report the continuous extrusion of MOF-polymer composites containing up to 60 wt% of commercially available MOFs and successful extrusion of small amounts composites containing 70 wt% MOF, with the composite viscosity an important factor in the success of the extrusion. The MOF is well-distributed through the composite and remains crystalline despite the high temperatures and mechanical forces involved in the extrusion process. While the composites are more brittle than the base polymer and appear largely non-porous, the suspected presence of inaccessible internal pores coupled with the increased thermal stability of the composites compared to the base polymer indicate potential for the composites to be used as fire resistant materials.