Metal-organic frameworks for energy conversion and water harvesting: A bridge between thermal engineering and material science

Adsorption technologies for Heat Conversion (AHC) and Water Harvesting (AWH) hold great potential for energy management because they can utilize renewable energy or low-grade heat resources. A keystone for the successful implementation of these technologies is the properties of the adsorbent. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) show tremendous promise for these applications, owing to their high adsorption capacity and the possibility of target-specific design. However, there are several challenges to be solved, namely, low hydrothermal stability of MOFs, high cost, and complicated synthesis. The further progress of these technologies depends on the inter-disciplinary research in Applied Thermal Engineering (ATE) and Materials Science (MS) and close collaboration between these two scientific societies is required. In this review, we try to bridge the gap between ATE and MS scientists. To this purpose, the principles of AHC and AWH are described, the specific features of adsorbents needed for AHC and AWH are defined, and promising MOFs are considered. MOFs fabrication strategies and long-term reliability are viewed. Finally, we provide some perspectives on advanced MOFs promising for continuously-operating and scalable AHC and AWH systems.