Fabrication of mesoporous MOF nanosheets via surfactant-template method for C–S coupling reactions

Abstract

Abstract Pore size enlargement plays a vital role in the catalytic applications of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). There is still a big challenge in achieving two-dimension (2D) ultrathin MOF nanosheets with controllable meso-pores, although it has huge demanding. In this work, various kinds of mesoporous MOF nanosheets with uniform meso-pore channels and crystallized microporous frameworks were constructed using surfactants (cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide, CTAB) as sacrificial templates. CTAB was firstly introduced into MOF nanosheet structure during the formation of MOF nanosheets, and mesopores could be produced by removing CTAB from MOF nanosheets. Remarkably, the integration of ultrathin nanosheets and mesoporous property enables mesoporous CuBDC nanosheets enhanced catalytic activity for C–S cross-coupling reaction, providing a new concept and feasible strategy for highly efficient mesoporous MOF catalyst synthesis.