A fine-tuned Metal-Organic Framework for Autonomous Indoor Moisture Control .

Conventional adsorbents, namely zeolites and silica gel, are often used to control humidity by adsorbing water; however, adsorbents capable of dual functionality of humidification and dehumidification, offering the desired control of the moisture level at room temperature, has yet to be explored. Here we report Y-shp-MOF-5, a hybrid microporous highly-connected Rare-Earth based metal-organic framework (MOF), with dual functionality for moisture control within the recommended range of relative humidity (45% to 65% RH) set by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). Y-shp-MOF-5 exhibits exceptional structural integrity, robustness and unique humidity-control performance as confirmed by the large number (thousand) of conducted water vapor adsorption-desorption cycles. The retained structural integrity and the mechanism of water sorption were corroborated using in situ single crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) studies. The resultant working water uptake of 0.45 g.g-1 is solely regulated by a simple adjustment of the relative humidity, positioning this hydrolytically stable MOF as a prospective adsorbent for humidity control in confined spaces such as space shuttles, aircraft cabins and air-conditioned buildings.