Molecular modeling of Bio-MOF's for anesthetic Xe recovery from exhale gas mixtures

Designing an in expensive and highly efficient recovery process for Xenon (Xe) is gaining importance in the development of sustainable applications. Using metal organic frameworks (MOFs) for separating Xe from anesthetic gas mixtures has been a recent topic studied rarely and superficially in the literature. In this thesis, we theoretically investigate Xe recovery performances of 43 biological MOFs (Bio-MOFs) formed by biocompatible metal cations and biological endogenous linkers. Xe uptakes and Xe permeabilities in its binary mixtures with CO2, O2, and N2 are investigated by applying Grand Canonical Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics simulations. Materials having metalloporphyrin, hexacarboxylate, triazine, or pyrazole ligands, dimetallic paddlewheel units, relatively large pore sizes (PLD>5 Å and LCD>10 Å), large void fractions (≈0.8), and large surface areas (>2900 m2/g) are determined as top performing Bio-MOFs for Xe recovery. The results of this thesis show examples of rarely studied aerogen interactions that play a critical role in selective adsorption of Xe in nanoporous materials.