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Toluene is a prevalent pollutant in indoor environments and its removal is essential to maintain a healthy environment. Adsorption is one of the best alternatives for organic vapours removal, specially at low indoor concentrations. Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) and Ionic Liquids (ILs) are potential materials for this mean. In this work, the synthesis and application of IL/MOF composite materials for toluene removal is reported. Loading [BMIM][CH 3 COO] ionic liquid into MIL101 porous structure improves parent materials affinity towards toluene capture by two orders of magnitude (as Henry's constants, attesting to their synergy). MIL101(Cr) and absorption in [BMIM][CH 3 COO] IL is best described by Henry's Law, while the Langmuir adsorption model predicts toluene adsorption on [BMIM][CH 3 COO]/MIL101(Cr) better than Freundlich and Toth equations. Diffusional and kinetics models revealed that toluene diffusion is the rate limiting step for pristine MIL101. Kinetic and diffusion rates were systematically improved upon the incorporation of the ionic liquid due to shorter toluene hops with the adsorbed IL and the increased hydrophobicity in the composites making the sorption more favourable. This study provides a systematic analysis and modelling of the toluene capture process in IL/MOF composites aiding a better understanding of the sorption process in these novel materials., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Indoor exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is detrimental to the health of the occupants, and their removal is crucial in maintaining good air quality. Novel adsorbents prepared by modifying Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), MIL101 (Cr), UiO-66, and UiO-66-NH 2 with [BMIM][CH 3 COO] ionic liquid, were characterized and tested for toluene adsorption. [BMIM][CH 3 COO]/MIL101 performed best with a fast sorption rate, large sorption capacity, and good regenerability. It displays synergistic interactions between the IL and MOF. Adding one weight percent [BMIM][CH 3 COO] to UiO-66 and UiO-66-NH 2 has a synergistic effect with respective 14% and 5% enhancements sorption over calculated values. The strong interactions between IL and UiO-66 and UiO-66-NH 2 , as observed in their thermogravimetric data, results in poor toluene sorption for 10 wt% [BMIM][CH 3 COO] loadings. This work provides a basis for IL modification of MOFs for enhanced sorption of VOCs for air treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Moisture removal and water recovery from the air are vital for regulating indoor humidity and mitigating water scarcity. Most atmospheric water harvesters (AWH) focus primarily on increasing the moisture capture rate, but for it to be economical and sustainable, it is essential to consider the energy required to recover and harvest the captured water. Here, a mechanically flexible, biphilic sorption‐based AWH made of green, environmentally friendly material is presented. It consists of a hygroscopic chitosan polymer embedded within a flexible, hydrophobic silica xerogel that can harvest 86.3 g water/g chitosan at 97% relative humidity and 25°C reaching saturation after 30 days (i.e. 2.88 g water/g chitosan/day). Roughly 88% of the sorbed moisture was recovered by mechanical squeezing (ca. 0.020 MPa) within 150 s. Repeated water harvesting experiments and uniaxial compression tests demonstrate that chitosan‐silica xerogel is durable for long‐term operations, providing a fast, reliable, and sustainable moisture removal and water harvesting tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• MOF-based self-humidifying PEMFCs are demonstrated. • Dense and continuous MOF films were grown on porous substrate. • Subnanoliter of PFSA was confined to form PFSA/MOF structure composite membranes. • PEMFCs with new membranes exhibit excellent performances under dry feed conditions. A novel kind of confined PFSA/MOF composite membranes was developed to promote the water management within the membrane during the PEMFC operation. Two typical water-stable MOFs (i.e., ZIF-8 and MIL-101) were grown on the surface of polydopamine (PDA) or polydopamine/polyethyleneimine (PDA/PEI) modified perforated stainless steel meshes, and subnanoliter of PFSA was confined within the pores of as-prepared substrate. The composite membranes can be operated at high temperatures without external humidification. The PEMFC with confined PFSA/ZIF-8 composite membrane and confined PFSA/MIL-101 composite membrane exhibit three times higher power density than the one with commercial Nafion 117 membrane at 60 °C. The improved performance benefited from the good water retention capacity and thermal stability of MOF facilitating proton transfer and water management under high temperature and dry conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] A novel Fe3O4@ZIF-8 core–shell microsphere is synthesized by a new facile method. [•] The microspheres are easily loaded/unloaded into/out a capillary microreactor. [•] The microreactor filled with the Fe3O4@ZIF-8 catalyst shows excellent performances. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]