Abstract
Hierarchically porous metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have recently emerged as a novel crystalline hybrid material with tunable porosity. Many efforts have been made to develop hierarchically porous MOFs, yet their low-energy fabrication remains a challenge and the underlying mechanism is still unknown. In this study, the rapid fabrication of two hierarchically porous MOFs (Cu-BTC and ZIF-8) was carried out at room temperature and ambient pressure for 10 min using a novel surfactant as the template in a (Cu, Zn) hydroxy double salt (HDS) solution, where the (Cu, Zn) HDS accelerated the nucleation of crystals and the anionic surfactants served as templates to fabricate mesopores and macropores. The growth mechanism of hierarchically porous MOFs was analyzed via mesodynamics (MesoDyn) simulation, and then the synthetic mechanism of hierarchically porous MOFs at the molecular level was obtained. The as-synthesized hierarchically porous Cu-BTC showed a high uptake capacity of 646 mg g−1, which is about 25% higher as compared with microporous Cu-BTC (516 mg g−1) for the capture of toluene. This study provides a theoretical basis for the large-scale fabrication of hierarchically porous MOFs and offers a reference for the understanding of their synthetic mechanism.
Highlights
IntroductionMetal–organic frameworks (MOFs), consisting of organic ligands and metal ions (or clusters), have drawn intense interest as a novel synthetic porous material.[1,2] In comparison to traditional porous solids such as activated carbon, mesoporous silica, and zeolites, MOFs have diverse topology structures, high surface area, ultrahigh porosity, and multiple tunable functions.[3,4,5] it can be used in a wide range of applications, such as adsorption/separation,[6,7] photoelectronics,[8,9] energy conversion,[10,11] drug delivery,[12] chemical sensing,[13] and catalysis.[14]
To verify the crystalline structure of the hierarchically porous Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) obtained from rapid synthesis, the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns
The presence of traces of elemental N can be attributed to some templates residues in the H-Cu-BTC,[40] which is consistent with the result of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) (Fig. S1b†)
Summary
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), consisting of organic ligands and metal ions (or clusters), have drawn intense interest as a novel synthetic porous material.[1,2] In comparison to traditional porous solids such as activated carbon, mesoporous silica, and zeolites, MOFs have diverse topology structures, high surface area, ultrahigh porosity, and multiple tunable functions.[3,4,5] it can be used in a wide range of applications, such as adsorption/separation,[6,7] photoelectronics,[8,9] energy conversion,[10,11] drug delivery,[12] chemical sensing,[13] and catalysis.[14]. Another approach is the supramolecular template strategy, which generates mesopores and macropores in MOF crystals by using a surfactant as the template.[24,27] there are 1062 | Nanoscale Adv., 2019, 1, 1062–1069
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