Abstract
The removal of SO2 from flue gas remains a challenge. Adsorption-based separation of SO2 using porous materials has been proposed as a more energy-efficient and cost-effective alternative to more traditional methods such as cryogenic distillations. Here we report a flexible hydrogen-bonded organic framework (HOF-NKU-1) that enables the sieving of SO2 through the guest-adaptive response and shape-memory effect of the material. HOF-NKU-1 exhibits a high selectivity of 7,331 for the separation of SO2/CO2 and a high SO2 storage density of 3.27 g cm−3 within the pore space at ambient conditions. The hydrophobic nature of HOF-NKU-1 enables high dynamic SO2 uptake and SO2 recovery, even in conditions of 95% humidity. The SO2/CO2 separation mechanism is studied through combinatorial gas sorption isotherms, breakthrough experiments and single-crystal diffraction studies, paving the way for the development of multifunctional shape-memory porous materials in the future.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the main text and the supplementary information or are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. Crystallographic data for the structures in this article have been deposited at the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, under deposition numbers CCDC 2368931 (HOF-NKU-1), 2368932 (SO2@HOF-NKU-1), 2220262 (CO2@HOF-NKU-1) and 2368933 (SO2@HOF-NKU-1-removal). Copies of the data can be obtained free of charge from https://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/structures/. Source data are provided with this paper.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2022YFA1503301 to B.L.), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 22471131 to B.L., 22035003 to X.-H.B. and W2431013 to B.C.), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Nankai University) to B.L., China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant no. 2022TQ0162) to L.L. and Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations (grant no. YYJC202101) to B.L. and X.-H.B.
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L.L., B.L., B.C. and X.-H.B. conceived the research idea and designed the experiments. L.L. synthesized the materials, grew the crystals and prepared the adsorbents. L.L., X.Z., L.Z., Z.Z. and X.L. performed the characterization. X.L. and T.H. performed the theoretical calculations. L.L., B.L., B.C. and X.-H.B. analysed the data and wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.
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A patent that covers the synthesis of the hydrogen-bonded organic framework (HOF-NKU-1) and its use in FGD experiments has been filed by Nankai University with X.-H.B., L.L. and B.L. listed as inventors (Chinese National Invention Patent, application no. 202411558505.X, status of application: under review). The remaining authors declare no competing interests.
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Nature Chemistry thanks Wei Gong, Jiangtao Jia and Jin Shang Yes for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Supplementary information
Supplementary Information
Supplementary Figs. 1–45 and Tables 1–5.
Supplementary Data 1
Crystallographic data for HOF-NKU-1 (CCDC 2368931).
Supplementary Data 2
Crystallographic data for SO2@HOF-NKU-1 (CCDC 2368932).
Supplementary Data 3
Crystallographic data for SO2@HOF-NKU-1-removal (CCDC 2368933).
Supplementary Data 4
Crystallographic data for CO2@HOF-NKU-1 (CCDC 2220262).
Source data
Source Data Fig. 3
Source data for Fig. 3.
Source Data Fig. 4
Source data for Fig. 4.
Source Data Fig. 5
Source data for Fig. 5.
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Li, L., Zhang, X., Lian, X. et al. Flue gas desulfurization and SO2 recovery within a flexible hydrogen-bonded organic framework. Nat. Chem. 17, 727–733 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-025-01744-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-025-01744-9
