The topic of this thesis is the adsorption of simple molecular fluids in nanoporous materials. Many industrial processes are based on this phenomenon, including ionic exchange, selective separation and heterogeneous catalysis. I used molecular simulation to study the adsorption properties of polar molecules of industrial interest (CO2 and H2O) in a new class of crystalline microporous hybrid organic-inorganic materials called Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs). They have exceptional adsorption properties due to their topological variety and their versatility, allowed by the large range of possibilities offered by organic and coordination chemistry and functionalizations. I first studied the adsorption of CO2 in a family of materials called IRMOFs, which share the same topology but have different porous volume, in order to characterize the effect of confinement on their adsorption performance. In particular, a general behavior has been highlighted: the critical temperature decreases when the confinement increases. Then, I looked at a recently synthesized cationic MOF called Zn2(CBTACN). After having localized the extra-framework halogen anions in the unit cell of the material, something which was not possible experimentally, I characterized CO2 adsorption in this system first as a pure gas and then as a component of different mixtures. Finally, I was interested in the hydrothermal stability of MOFs, a crucial issue for their use in industrial applications. I observed the hydration mechanism of system that is analogous to the MOF-5 (IRMOF-0h) and shed light on some collaborative effects of the attack of water that were unknown to in the literature.
Simulation moléculaire de l'interaction de molécules polaires avec des matériaux de la famille des MOFs