Abstract
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of crystalline materials with a variety of applications in gas storage, catalysis, drug delivery or light harvesting. The optimization of those applications requires the characterization of MOF structure in the relevant environment. Dynamic force microscopy has been applied to follow dynamic processes of metal-organic-framework material. We provide images with spatial and time resolutions, respectively, of angstrom and seconds that show that Ce-RPF-8 surfaces immersed in water and glycerol experience a surface reconstruction process that is characterized by the diffusion of the molecular species along the step edges of the open terraces. The rate of the surface reconstruction process depends on the liquid. In water it happens spontaneously while in glycerol is triggered by applying an external force.
Highlights
Atomic, molecular and nanoscale resolution images of surfaces and interfaces in technologically relevant conditions are critical to predict and understand the behavior of functional materials and devices[1,2,3]
In this letter we present a dynamic force microscopy method to follow with molecular resolution the evolution of a Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-liquid interface
We demonstrate the capability of amplitude modulation atomic force microscope (AFM) to characterize the interaction of MOF surfaces in technological relevant environments by providing images of the surfaces and etching processes in the native environment with angstrom resolution
Summary
The imaging has been performed in amplitude modulation AFM30 by photothermally exciting the microcantilever at its 1st resonance. We have used a range of free A0 and set point amplitudes Asp. In particular, the atomic resolution images have been obtained by using very small set-point amplitudes ≈0.2 nm and a relatively fast raster frequency (~20 Hz). Information about the AFM imaging conditions are detailed in the Supplementary Information
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