High‐density adsorption sites in confined pores for enhanced removal of low‐content acetylene and ethane from ethylene

Abstract The one‐step purification of C 2 H 4 from C 2 ternary hydrocarbon mixtures is demanding yet challenging, especially for low‐content C 2 H 2 and C 2 H 6 . The layer‐pillared microporous metal–organic framework, Ni(pca)(dabco), with 3D alkyl pillars regulates the pore size (5.4 Å) and controls the accessibility of oxygen atoms. The co‐modulation of binding affinity for C 2 H 2 and C 2 H 6 over C 2 H 4 enables one‐step purification of C 2 H 4 . As a result, Ni(pca)(dabco) exhibits benchmark adsorption capacity of 2.76 mmol g −1 for C 2 H 2 and 2.58 mmol g −1 for C 2 H 6 at 0.1 bar and 298 K. Dynamic breakthrough experiments demonstrate a C 2 H 4 productivity of 1.53 mmol g −1 with 99.9% purity from a C 2 H 2 /C 2 H 6 /C 2 H 4 (1/9/90) mixture in a single cycle. Furthermore, Ni(pca)(dabco) is stable and can be synthesized on a scalable scale from inexpensive chemicals. Computational simulations and in situ characterizations reveal the synergistic effect of abundant C–H groups and accessible oxygen sites within confined pores induce stronger interactions with C 2 H 2 and C 2 H 6 .