Abstract
Efficient separation of propylene from propane is a critical yet challenging industrial process. While rigid molecular sieves offer ideal selectivity, their narrow nanopores inherently constrain adsorption capacity and diffusion kinetics due to compromised thermodynamic-kinetic trade-offs. To address this, we report ZSTU-10, a molecular sieve constructed via structure-directing agents. Uniquely, ZSTU-10 features localized sieving gates for selective guest admission, expansive diffusion channels for rapid transport, and central pore cavities for high-capacity storage. This gate-channel-cavity architecture enables the precise exclusion of propane while facilitating the dense packing and fast diffusion of propylene, achieving simultaneous thermodynamic-kinetics optimization in molecular sieving. Static adsorption experiments demonstrate an exceptional propylene uptake (97.7 cm3 cm-3) at 298 K and 1 bar. Time-dependent uptake kinetics revealed a propylene diffusion coefficient (4.29 × 10-9 cm2 s-1) in ZSTU-10 surpassing benchmarks by two orders of magnitude. Dynamic breakthrough experiments demonstrate that ZSTU-10 produces high-purity propylene (99.1%) with a productivity of 37.5 L kg−1 in a single adsorption-desorption cycle.
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Data availability
The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and Supplementary Information. Crystallographic data for the structures in reported this article have been deposited at the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Center, under deposition numbers CCDC 2424397 (ZSTU-10), 2424398 (ZSTU-11), 2424396 (ZSTU-12), 2424393 (ZSTU-10a), 2424394 (ZSTU-11a), 2424395 (ZSTU-12a), 2424392 (ZSTU-10·C3D6), 2424400 (ZSTU-10b), and 2424399 (ZSTU-10c). Copies of the data can be obtained free of charge via https://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/structures/. The PXRD patterns, TGA curves, sorption tests, gas adsorption data, Rietveld refinement of powder X-ray diffraction tests and breakthrough tests that support the findings of this study are provided as a Source Data File (ref. 61. Xue, W (2026): Source data of ZSTU-10, ZSTU-11, and ZSTU-12 that support the findings of this study.xlsx. The source data file has been deposited in Figshare under accession code (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30018499). A reporting summary for this article is available as a Supplementary Information file. Source data are provided with this paper.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22378366 (J.G.), 22375221 (R.B.L.) and W2431013 (B.C.)), the Outstanding Graduate Thesis Development Fund (No. LW-YP2024006 (X.W.)), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (No. 2023B0303000003 (P. M.), 2023A1515110785 (L. X. B.), 2023B1515120060 (P. M.), 2024B1515120045 (P. M.)), and Guangdong Innovative & Entrepreneurial Research Team Program (2021ZT09C539 (P. M.)). The authors appreciate the neutron beamtime at SuperHRPD of J-PARC (Proposal No.2022B0332) and TREND at the CSNS. The authors thank Prof. Kazuhiro Mori, Dr. Toru Ishigaki, Dr. Zhenhong Tan, Dr. Wu Xie, and Dr. Wenhai Ji for their kind support on the neutron scattering experiments.
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X.W. performed the experiments associated with material synthesis, data analysis and prepared the first version of the manuscript. L.B. refined the single-crystal X-ray diffraction data and revised the manuscript. L.B., S.T., T.K., and P.M. performed the neutron powder diffraction experiments and related data analysis. T.Z. performed the gas adsorption experiments. H.C. and L.L. measured the fixed-bed breakthrough tests. X.W., T.Z., and J.L. analyzed the structural data. P.M., R.-B.L., B.C., and J.G. directed and supervised the project. J.G. conceived and designed the research. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.
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Wang, X., Bao, L., Li, JH. et al. Microporous MOF for simultaneous high thermodynamic and kinetic synergistic separation of propylene and propane. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71104-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71104-9
