A new software package, RASPA, for simulating adsorption and diffusion of molecules in flexible nanoporous materials is presented. The code implements the latest state-of-the-art algorithms for molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo (MC) in various ensembles including symplectic/measure-preserving integrators, Ewald summation, configurational-bias MC, continuous fractional component MC, reactive MC and Baker's minimisation. We show example applications of RASPA in computing coexistence properties, adsorption isotherms for single and multiple components, self-and collective diffusivities, reaction systems and visualisation. The software is released under the GNU General Public License.

A novel united atom force field affords accurate and quantitative reproduction of the adsorption properties of linear and branched alkanes in nanoporous framework structures. The force field was generated by adjusting the parameters so as to faithfully reproduce the experimentally determined isotherms (particularly the inflection points) on MFI-type zeolite over a wide range of pressures and temperatures. It reproduces extremely well the Henry coefficients, heats of adsorption, preexponential factors, entropies of adsorption, and maximum loading. It is shown that the extension of the force field from MFI to other nanoporous framework topologies is successful, that it affords the prediction of topology-specific adsorption properties, and that it can be an effective tool to resolve the many discrepancies among experimental data sets.

Adsorption isotherms for CO2 in IRMOF-1 exhibit inflections that grow into pronounced steps at lower temperatures. The isotherm shapes can be predicted by molecular simulations using a rigid crystal structure, indicating that changes in the MOF crystal structure are not responsible for the steps in this system.

We review state-of-the-art Monte Carlo (MC) techniques for computing fluid coexistence properties (Gibbs simulations) and adsorption simulations in nanoporous materials such as zeolites and metal -organic frameworks. Conventional MC is discussed and compared to advanced techniques such as reactive MC, configurational-bias Monte Carlo and continuous fractional MC. The latter technique overcomes the problem of low insertion probabilities in open systems. Other modern methods are (hyper-)parallel tempering, Wang-Landau sampling and nested sampling. Details on the techniques and acceptance rules as well as to what systems these techniques can be applied are provided. We highlight consistency tests to help validate and debug MC codes.

Abstract:We have developed a united atom force field able to accurately describe the adsorption properties of linear alkanes in the sodium form of FAU-type zeolites. This force field successfully reproduces experimental adsorption properties of n-alkanes over a wide range of sodium cation densities, temperatures, and pressures. The force field reproduces the sodium positions in dehydrated FAU-type zeolites known from crystallography, and it predicts how the sodium cations redistribute when n-alkanes adsorb. The cations in the sodalite cages are significantly more sensitive to the n-alkane loading than those in the supercages. We provide a simple expression that adequately describes the n-alkane Henry coefficient and adsorption enthalpy as a function of sodium density and temperature at low coverage. This expression affords an adequate substitute for complex configurational-bias Monte Carlo simulations. The applicability of the force field is by no means limited to low pressure and pure adsorbates, for it also successfully reproduces the adsorption from binary mixtures at high pressure.

The thermal-expansion properties [1] of substances are very important in materials design; for example, cracks form when joined materials expand or contract by different amounts upon heating. The most famous example of a substance that contracts when heated is ice: it transforms into water, which has a higher density than ice. Negative thermal expansion (NTE) in solids is relatively rare, although examples have been found in zeolites.[2] The underlying physics of NTE remains poorly understood. Herein, we show, on the basis of molecular simulations, that the recently synthesized isoreticular metal-organic frameworks (IRMOFs) consistently have negative thermal-expansion coefficients and are by far the most contracting materials known. Our simulations point to two competing effects: a local effect, where all bond lengths increase with temperature, and a second long-range effect, where the thermal movement of the linker molecules leads to a shorter average distance between corners upon heating.MOFs are a new class of nanoporous materials that have good stability, large void volumes, and well-defined tailorable cavities of uniform size. Their potential appears great, because these are precisely the properties needed for catalysis, separations, and storage/release applications. [3] MOFs generally consist of metal or metal-oxygen vertices interconnected by rigid or semirigid organic molecules. A large variety of MOFs, featuring different linker molecules and different types of bonding between the vertices with the linkers, have been produced by various research groups. The specific examples shown in Figure 1 are IRMOFs developed by Yaghi and co-workers. [4][5][6][7][8] In general, the IRMOFs consist of zinc-oxygen complexes connected by carboxylate-terminated linkers, forming a three-dimensional lattice of cubic cavities.Molecular simulations of adsorption in MOFs have shown very good agreement with experiment, [9][10][11][12][13] and it is interesting to note that simulations of diffusion in MOFs preceded experiments by almost two years. [9,14] In addition to predicting macroscopic observables, simulations can also provide useful molecular-level insights. To systematically investigate the thermal properties of MOFs, we herein simulate the (cubic) structures of several IRMOFs of varying linker length. We obtain information about the unit-cell length (L) as a function of temperature and about adsorbate loadings (q) as a function of pressure. We show that the experimental data scattered in the literature (for different adsorbate loadings and temperatures) are, in fact, consistent, and we elucidate the different effects of temperature and loading on L at the microscopic level.Various models for MOF flexibility have recently appeared. [15][16][17] Our flexible framework model for IRMOF-1, IRMOF-10, and IRMOF-16 is described in the Supporting Information. It is similar in spirit to the model of Greathouse and Allendorf, [15] but differs in the treatment of the carboxylate group and has the advantage of being calibrated to ex...

We have developed a complete force field that accurately reproduces the adsorption properties of carbon dioxide in a variety of zeolites with different topologies and compositions. The force field parameters were obtained by fitting to our own experimental data and validated with available data taken from the literature. The novelty of this force field is that it is fully transferable between different zeolite framework types, and therefore, it is applicable to all possible Si/Al ratios (with sodium as extra-framework cation) and for the first time affording the prediction of topology-specific and chemical composition-specific adsorption properties.

A dynamically corrected transition state theory method is presented that is capable of computing quantitatively the self-diffusivity of adsorbed molecules in confined systems at nonzero loading. This extention to traditional transition state theory is free of additional assumptions and yields a diffusivity identical to that obtained by conventional molecular-dynamics simulations. While molecular-dynamics calculations are limited to relatively fast diffusing molecules, our approach extends the range of accessible time scales significantly beyond currently available methods. We show results for methane, ethane, and propane in LTL-and LTA-type zeolites over a wide range of temperatures and loadings, and demonstrate the extensibility of the method to mixtures.