An oxygen cylinder could hold even more gas if it were filled with sponge-like powders, chemists report.

Credit: NuMat Technologies

The powders are a type of metal–organic framework (MOF): sponge-like materials in which metal atoms are connected by organic groups, creating a porous network with many promising applications including gas storage. Omar Farha of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and his colleagues simulated oxygen adsorption (pictured, yellow spheres) on 10,000 MOFs and selected two to test. They experimentally showed that the MOFs could store and release oxygen over 50 cycles and outperformed zeolites, another kind of chemical sponge.

The structures could allow soldiers or medical teams to carry oxygen using smaller, lighter containers that operate at lower pressures than cylinders, the team says.

Angew. Chem. Int. Edn http://doi.org/f2vn85 (2014)