Effect of solvents on the structure of inorganic – organic hybrid material ZIF-11

In this paper, ZIF-11 materials were synthesized from benzimidazole (BIm) and zinc acetate in different solvent systems at room temperature. The obtained samples were characterized using XRD, SEM, FTIR and TGA measurements and tested for toluene and iodine adsorption ability. The results show that the synthesized materials had nano-size, and uniformity with the sharp rhombic dodecahedrons structure of ZIF-11. The studied solvent systems almost did not affect the crystal size of the materials, but had an small influence on their thermal stability and the toluene adsorption ability. The samples synthesized in methanol-toluene and ethanol-toluene solvent systems had higher thermal stability than those synthesized in ethanol-xylene and ethanol-benzene solvent systems. The obtained materials had high adsorption ability for toluene. Adsorption capacity reached 303.5 mg/g, 306.1 mg/g, 295.6 mg/g and 279.7 mg/g for the materials synthesized in methanol-toluene, ethanol-toluene, ethanol-xylene and ethanol-benzene solvent systems, respectively. The samples also had high adsorption ability for the iodine from aqueous solution and the studied solvent systems almost did not affect iodine adsorption ability of the materials.