Rigid Metal-organic Frameworks Research Articles

Enhanced water stability and catalytic activity of Fe-based metal–organic frameworks with co-ligands for 2,4-dichlorophenol degradation

Fe-based metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have good photocatalytic performance, environmental friendliness, low cost, and abundance. However, their applications are limited by low water stability, particularly in the presence of light irradiation and oxidizing agents. In this study, we present a MIL-53(Fe)-based MOF using 1,4-naphthalene dicarboxylic (1,4-NDC) and 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic (H2BDC) acid co-ligands, denoted MIL-53(Fe)-Nx, where Nx represents the ratio of 1,4-NDC. This MOF exhibits high water stability and good photocatalytic activity because of the hydrophobicity of naphthalene. The removal and mineralization rates for 100 mg/L 2,4-dichlorophenol reached 100% and 22%, respectively, within 60 min. After three cycles of use, the Fe leached into the solution from the catalysts was significantly lower than the maximum permissible limit indicated in the European Union standard. Of note, 1,4-NDC can be used to make a rigid MOF, thereby improving the crystallinity, porosity, and hydrophobicity of the resultant materials. It also significantly reduced the bandgap energy and improved the charge separation efficiency of the catalysts. This study provides a route to enhance the water stability of Fe-based MOFs via a mixed-ligand strategy to expand their applications in pollutant control.

Simulating CO2 diffusivity in rigid and flexible Mg-MOF-74 with machine-learning force fields

The flexibility of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) affects their gas adsorption and diffusion properties. However, reliable force fields for simulating flexible MOFs are lacking. As a result, most atomistic simulations so far have been carried out assuming rigid MOFs, which inevitably overestimates the gas adsorption energy. Here, we show that this issue can be addressed by applying a machine-learning potential, trained on quantum chemistry data, to atomistic simulations. We find that inclusion of flexibility is particularly important for simulating CO2 chemisorption in MOFs with coordinatively unsaturated metal sites. Specifically, we demonstrate that the diffusion of CO2 in a flexible Mg-MOF-74 structure is about one order of magnitude faster than in a rigid one, challenging the rigid-MOF assumption in previous simulations.

Spin qubits of Cu(II) doped in Zn(II) metal-organic frameworks above microsecond phase memory time.

With the aim of creating Cu(II) spin qubits in a rigid metal-organic framework (MOF), this work demonstrates a doping of 5 %, 2 %, 1 %, and 0.1 % mol of Cu(II) ions into a perovskite-type MOF [CH6 N3 ][ZnII (HCOO)3 ]. The presence of dopant Cu(II) sites are confirmed with anisotropic g-factors (gx =2.07, gy =2.12, and gz =2.44) in the S=1/2 system by experimentally and theoretically. Magnetic dynamics indicate the occurrence of a slow magnetic relaxation via the direct and Raman processes under an applied field, with a relaxation time (τ) of 3.5 ms (5 % Cu), 9.2 ms (2 % Cu), and 15 ms (1 % Cu) at 1.8 K. Furthermore, pulse-ESR spectroscopy reveals spin qubit properties with a spin-spin relaxation (phase memory) time (T2 ) of 0.21 μs (2 %Cu), 0.39 μs (1 %Cu), and 3.0 μs (0.1 %Cu) at 10 K as well as Rabi oscillation between MS =±1/2 spin sublevels. T2 above microsecond is achieved for the first time in the Cu(II)-doped MOFs. It can be observed at submicrosecond around 50 K. These spin relaxations are very sensitive to the magnetic dipole interactions relating with cross-relaxation between the Cu(II) sites and can be tuned by adjusting the dopant concentration.

Recent advances in the interfacial engineering of MOF-based mixed matrix membranes for gas separation.

The membrane process stands as a promising and transformative technology for efficient gas separation due to its high energy efficiency, operational simplicity, low environmental impact, and easy up-and-down scaling. Metal-organic framework (MOF)-polymer mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) combine MOFs' superior gas-separation performance with polymers' processing versatility, offering the opportunity to address the limitations of pure polymer or inorganic membranes for large-scale integration. However, the incompatibility between the rigid MOFs and flexible polymer chains poses a challenge in MOF MMM fabrication, which can cause issues such as MOF agglomeration, sedimentation, and interfacial defects, substantially weakening membrane separation efficiency and mechanical properties, particularly gas separation. This review focuses on engineering MMMs' interfaces, detailing recent strategies for reducing interfacial defects, improving MOF dispersion, and enhancing MOF loading. Advanced characterisation techniques for understanding membrane properties, specifically the MOF-polymer interface, are outlined. Lastly, it explores the remaining challenges in MMM research and outlines potential future research directions.

A Critical Assessment on Calculating Vibrational Spectra in Nanostructured Materials.

Vibrational spectroscopy is an omnipresent spectroscopic technique to characterize functional nanostructured materials such as zeolites, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and metal-halide perovskites (MHPs). The resulting experimental spectra are usually complex, with both low-frequency framework modes and high-frequency functional group vibrations. Therefore, theoretically calculated spectra are often an essential element to elucidate the vibrational fingerprint. In principle, there are two possible approaches to calculate vibrational spectra: (i) a static approach that approximates the potential energy surface (PES) as a set of independent harmonic oscillators and (ii) a dynamic approach that explicitly samples the PES around equilibrium by integrating Newton's equations of motions. The dynamic approach considers anharmonic and temperature effects and provides a more genuine representation of materials at true operating conditions; however, such simulations come at a substantially increased computational cost. This is certainly true when forces and energy evaluations are performed at the quantum mechanical level. Molecular dynamics (MD) techniques have become more established within the field of computational chemistry. Yet, for the prediction of infrared (IR) and Raman spectra of nanostructured materials, their usage has been less explored and remain restricted to some isolated successes. Therefore, it is currently not a priori clear which methodology should be used to accurately predict vibrational spectra for a given system. A comprehensive comparative study between various theoretical methods and experimental spectra for a broad set of nanostructured materials is so far lacking. To fill this gap, we herein present a concise overview on which methodology is suited to accurately predict vibrational spectra for a broad range of nanostructured materials and formulate a series of theoretical guidelines to this purpose. To this end, four different case studies are considered, each treating a particular material aspect, namely breathing in flexible MOFs, characterization of defects in the rigid MOF UiO-66, anharmonic vibrations in the metal-halide perovskite CsPbBr3, and guest adsorption on the pores of the zeolite H-SSZ-13. For all four materials, in their guest- and defect-free state and at sufficiently low temperatures, both the static and dynamic approach yield qualitatively similar spectra in agreement with experimental results. When the temperature is increased, the harmonic approximation starts to fail for CsPbBr3 due to the presence of anharmonic phonon modes. Also, the spectroscopic fingerprints of defects and guest species are insufficiently well predicted by a simple harmonic model. Both phenomena flatten the potential energy surface (PES), which facilitates the transitions between metastable states, necessitating dynamic sampling. On the basis of the four case studies treated in this Review, we can propose the following theoretical guidelines to simulate accurate vibrational spectra of functional solid-state materials: (i) For nanostructured crystalline framework materials at low temperature, insights into the lattice dynamics can be obtained using a static approach relying on a few points on the PES and an independent set of harmonic oscillators. (ii) When the material is evaluated at higher temperatures or when additional complexity enters the system, e.g., strong anharmonicity, defects, or guest species, the harmonic regime breaks down and dynamic sampling is required for a correct prediction of the phonon spectrum. These guidelines and their illustrations for prototype material classes can help experimental and theoretical researchers to enhance the knowledge obtained from a lattice dynamics study.

Bilayer Zwitterionic Metal-Organic Framework for Selective All-Solid-State Superionic Conduction in Lithium Metal Batteries.

Solid-state batteries (SSBs) hold immense potential for improved energy density and safety compared to traditional batteries. However, existing solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) face challenges in meeting the complex operational requirements of SSBs. In this study, weintroduce a novel approach to address this issue by developing a metal-organic framework (MOF) with customized bilayer zwitterionic nano-channels (MOF-BZN) as high-performance SSEs. The bilayer zwitterionic nano-channels consist of a rigid anionic MOF channel with chemically grafted soft multi-cationic oligomers (MCOs) on the pore wall. This design enables selective superionic conduction, with MCOs restricting the movement of anions while coulombic interaction between MCOs and anionic framework promoting the dissociation of Li+ . MOF-BZN exhibits remarkable Li+ conductivity (8.76 × 10-4 S cm-1 ), high Li+ transference number (0.75), and a wide electrochemical window of up to 4.9V at 30°C. Ultimately, the SSB utilizing flame retarded MOF-BZN achieves an impressive specific energy of 419.6Wh kganode+cathode+electrolyte -1 under constrained conditions of high cathode loading (20.1mg cm-2 ) and limited lithium metal source. The constructed bilayer zwitterionic MOFs presents a pioneering strategy for developing advanced SSEs for highly efficient SSBs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Induced-Fit-Identification in a Rigid Metal-Organic Framework for ppm-Level CO2 Removal and Ultra-Pure CO Enrichment.

Removing CO2 from crude syngas via physical adsorption is an effective method to yield eligible syngas. However, the bottleneck in trapping ppm-level CO2 and improving CO purity at higher working temperatures are major challenges. Here we report a thermoresponsive metal-organic framework (1a-apz), assembled by rigid Mg2(dobdc) (1a) and aminopyrazine (apz), which not only affords an ultra-high CO2 capacity (145.0/197.6 cm3 g-1 (0.01/0.1 bar) at 298 K) but also produces ultra-pure CO (purity ≥ 99.99%) at a practical ambient temperature (TA). Several characterization results, including variable-temperature tests, in-situ high-resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction (HR-SXRD), and simulations, explicitly unravel that the excellent property is attributed to the induced-fit-identification in 1a-apz that comprises self-adaption of apz, multiple binding sites, and complementary electrostatic potential (ESP). Breakthrough tests suggest that 1a-apz can remove CO2 from 1/99 CO2/CO mixtures at practical 348 K, yielding 70.5 L kg-1 of CO with ultra-high purity of ≥ 99.99%. The excellent separation performance is also revealed by separating crude syngas that contains quinary mixtures of H2/N2/CH4/CO/CO2 (46/18.3/2.4/32.3/1, v/v/v/v/v).

Wavelength-shift-based visual fluorescence sensing of aspartic acids using Eu/Gd-MOF through pH triggering

With the increasing demand for on-site detection, the current approach of building dual-emission or multi-emission luminescence sensors based on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) which possess the capacity of self-reference for numerous non-analyte factors falls short of meeting sensing requirements. Therefore, we have designed a novel strategy for constructing wavelength shift-based luminescence sensor named Eu/Gd(TCPP), which exhibits dual-emitting from metal ions Eu3+ and flexible rotating aggregation-induced emission (AIE) ligands H4TCPP (2,3,5,6-tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)pyrazine). This sensor was prepared by a simple, green and fast plasma synthesis method. It's worth noting that the fluorescence emission of Eu/Gd(TCPP) shows a specific wavelength shift from ligand peak, and a visual color change from red to blue within a pH range of 4 to 3. Moreover, various characterization data verified that the luminescence switching mechanism of Eu/Gd(TCPP) was attributed to the H+-induced collapse of the Eu/Gd(TCPP) crystal structure, followed by untwisting of free ligands that lose rigid MOFs confinement. This hindered the antenna effect from H4TCPP to Ln3+ ions and restricted the rotation emission of ligand, resulting in the red-shifting of the ligand emission and corresponding luminescence switching. By tactfully utilizing the short-range pH response property of Eu/Gd(TCPP), highly sensitive and selective on-site visual detection of acidic aspartic acid can be achieved.

Multifunctional asymmetric electrolyte membrane encouraging durable lithium-metal batteries in wide temperature variations

The progress of high-performance lithium-metal batteries (LMBs) has been greatly impeded by lithium dendrite growth and electrolyte performance defects. Herein, an ultra-thin asymmetric multilayer composite electrolyte with a total thickness of 19 μm is designed. The rigid metal-organic framework (MOF) tier with Li+ conductivity towards the anode side adjusts the even deposition of Li+, owns high elasticity modulus (6.4 GPa) to restrain lithium dendrite formation, and improves the thermostability of the membrane. The in-situ cross-linked polymer layer on the cathode side achieves good electrode-electrolyte interface contact. Consequently, the functional asymmetric multilayer composite electrolyte displays a superior ionic conductivity (0.68 mS cm−1) and a high-efficiency Li+ transference (tLi+ = 0.47). The assembled Li||Li symmetric cells can cycle steadily for 1500 h at a high current density of 3 mA cm−2 at 30 °C and 1000 h at 1 mA cm−2 at 100 °C. The assembled LMBs with different cathodes show high rate capability and long-period cycling stability at room temperature. More impressively, the batteries display excellent electrochemical performance within −15 °C-100 °C and do not cause a short circuit even at 170 °C, showing high thermal safety. This work frames a neoteric strategy for the practical application of LMBs.

Interrogating Encapsulated Protein Structure within Metal–Organic Frameworks at Elevated Temperature

Encapsulating biomacromolecules within metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) can confer thermostability to entrapped guests. It has been hypothesized that the confinement of guest molecules within a rigid MOF scaffold results in heightened stability of the guests, but no direct evidence of this mechanism has been shown. Here, we present a novel analytical method using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) to solve the structure of bovine serum albumin (BSA) while encapsulated within two zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF-67 and ZIF-8). Our approach comprises subtracting the scaled SAXS spectrum of the ZIF from that of the biocomposite BSA@ZIF to determine the radius of gyration of encapsulated BSA through Guinier, Kratky, and pair distance distribution function analyses. While native BSA exposed to 70 °C became denatured, in situ SAXS analysis showed that encapsulated BSA retained its size and folded state at 70 °C when encapsulated within a ZIF scaffold, suggesting that entrapment within MOF cavities inhibited protein unfolding and thus denaturation. This method of SAXS analysis not only provides insight into biomolecular stabilization in MOFs but may also offer a new approach to study the structure of other conformationally labile molecules in rigid matrices.

Thermo-regulating mesoporous semi-rigid metal–organic–polymer frameworks for controllable adsorption and confinement

A “living” semi-rigid metal–organic–polymer framework (MOPF) was first built up with flexible UCST-type poly(acrylamide-co-acrylonitrile) and a rigid metal–organic framework by a one-pot method for reversible, controllable adsorption and confinement.

Thermo-responsive polymer-modified metal-organic frameworks as soft-rigid enzyme-reactors for enhancement of enzymolysis efficiency using a controllable embedding protocol.

Enzyme immobilization is a suitable strategy to promote biosensing, biocatalysis and the industrial applications of biomacromolecules. Although considerable efforts have been devoted to the construction of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-based porous nano-reactors, their enzymolysis efficiency cannot be tuned by varying the external conditions due to the fixed conformation of the encapsulated enzymes. In this work, a controllable embedding protocol was developed based on the concept of stimuli-responsive polymer modified MOFs. Using MOFs as a rigid template for thermo-responsive polymer modification and consequently utilizing the polymer-MOFs complexes for enzyme (glucose oxidase, horseradish peroxidase, trypsin, cytochrome c, glutaminase) immobilization, different porous nano-reactors were fabricated. Most importantly, the polymer on the MOF surface exhibited good ability to form a "soft nest" at high temperature for inducing the confinement effect and further improving the enzymolysis efficiencies of the nano-reactors 3.75-37.7-fold. Moreover, a colorimetric sensing method was developed to detect serum glucose with the proposed nano-reactors. This strategy is highly versatile and suitable for diverse rigid MOFs modified with stimuli-responsive soft-polymer-nests and enzymes.

Desolvation-Degree-Induced Structural Dynamics in a Rigid Cerium-Organic Framework Exhibiting Tandem Purification of Ethylene from Acetylene and Ethane.

Due to the industrial requirements for high production and high quality of ethylene, efficient purification of ethylene from acetylene and ethane is of prime importance but challenging. Dynamic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have demonstrated intriguing structural dynamics and diverse applications recently. Among them, although a few flexible ones have exhibited interesting ethylene purification capability, rigid ones were yet barely investigated for such purpose. In this regard, a cerium(III)-based MOF was solvothermally synthesized, which is rigid and assembled from rod molecular building blocks associated with coordinative N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) molecules. After liberating different degrees of DMF ligands via heating under vacuum or acetone exchange, both partially desolvated compounds of Ce-MOF-1 and Ce-MOF-2 were concertedly isolated in a fashion of single-crystal to single-crystal transformation. Although both newly generated materials crystallize in the same space group, they exhibit dissimilar unit cell parameters and slightly distinct ultramicropore sizes and pore microenvironments, thanks to the discrepancy in the desolvation degree. Consequently, Ce-MOF-1 and Ce-MOF-2 individually demonstrate C2H2- and C2H6-selective adsorption behavior, resulting in the potential tandem separation of C2H4 from C2H2 and C2H6 mixtures. The above results were successfully supported by not only single gas adsorption isotherms but also grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) calculation studies and dynamic breakthrough experiments. The present work may pave the way for rigid MOFs aiming at advancing applications via solid-state structural dynamics.

Isoreticular aluminium-based metal-organic frameworks with structurally similar organic linkers as highly efficient dye adsorbents

Nitrogen functionalized metal-organic-frameworks (MOFs) exhibit enhanced dye adsorption capacity compared to their counterparts without nitrogen functionalization. Typically, this functionalization is in the form of nitrogen side groups on the benzene/imidazole ring. Research on the effect of nitrogen atoms included within the rigid MOF structure on adsorption is lacking. In this work, two isoreticular aluminum-based MOFs were synthesized, functionalized with azobenzene (Al-AZB) and stilbene (Al-STB) organic linkers, respectively, with the former having nitrogen atoms within its rigid MOF structure. The effect of these nitrogen atoms on the physical properties and dye adsorption of the MOFs was tested. The MOFs were characterized and analyzed by NMR, FTIR, TGA, PXRD, SEM, BET, and UV/Vis. The characterizations confirmed the successful synthesis of the isoreticular MOFs, with Al-AZB exhibiting photoresponsive properties. The nitrogen functionalization enhanced the thermal stability and surface area of the MOFs as Al-AZB exhibited higher thermal stability (380 °C) and surface area (2500 m2/g) than Al-STB (345 °C; 1500 m2/g). The celestine blue dye adsorption by the MOFs followed the Freundlich isotherm model. A maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of 5224 mg/g and 5604 mg/g was obtained for Al-AZB and Al-STB, respectively, as predicted by the Langmuir model. Kinetic analysis showed that the pseudo-second-order model provided the best fit to the adsorption data and involves a film diffusion mechanism. The MOFs were successfully regenerated using dimethylformamide and effectively reused for dye adsorption. The evaluation of the mode of adsorption revealed the participation of van der Waals interactions and H-bonding in which the latter played a major role. The results showed that the nitrogen functionalization within the MOF's structure influenced the physical properties of the MOF as well as its dye adsorption characteristics.

Research on the mechanism and application of rigid and flexible metal-organic frameworks in selective adsorption

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are materials with porousness that metal ions and organic bridging ligands make up the composition to join. They are commonly employed in gas separation applications because of their extraordinarily high sorption capacities and complicated sorption behaviour. This article mainly introduces the mechanism and application of rigid and flexible MOFs used in selectively separating various gases. Rigid MOFs are just standard MOFs with rigid backbones and porous frameworks that are comparably stable and strong. Based on molecular sieving effect, interactions between adsorbates and surfaces, and the cooperative effects of size/shape exclusion and adsorbate-surface interactions, rigid MOFs used in selective adsorption of H2, O2, CH4 were highlighted. For flexible MOFs, the crystalline order of the underlying coordination network is combined with cooperative structural transformability in them. Based on size/shape exclusion, adsorbate-surface interactions and gate-opening or structural rearrangement caused by adsorbate-surface interactions, gate-opening forces that are particular to each gate, flexible MOFs used in selective adsorption of C2H2, CO2 and CH4 were discussed.

MOF-VR: A Virtual Reality Program for Performing and Visualizing Immersive Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Guest Molecules in Metal-Organic Frameworks.

Molecular dynamics simulations are useful to study diffusion of guest molecules in metal-organic frameworks. The interpretation of the generated three-dimensional trajectories is often difficult, because most visualization tools only allow two-dimensional projections. To facilitate interpretation, we present MOF-VR: a virtual reality program for performing interactive molecular dynamics simulations in metal-organic frameworks and visualizing atomic or molecular trajectories. MOF-VR consists of three subroutines: a construction routine to create hypothetical metal-organic frameworks by hand, a molecular dynamics suite, and a trajectory visualizer. To the best of our knowledge, MOF-VR is the first virtual reality program that allows hypothetical metal-organic frameworks to be constructed and tested in molecular dynamics simulations of guest molecules. We further show that MOF-VR is capable of performing state-of-the-art molecular dynamics simulations of guest molecules in rigid metal-organic frameworks in virtual reality and provides reliable simulation results.

Unblocking a rigid purine MOF for kinetic separation of xylenes.

The separation of xylene isomers still remains an industrially challenging task. Here, porous purine-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been synthesized and studied for their potential in xylene separations. In particular, Zn(purine)I showed excellent para-xylene/ortho-xylene separation capability with a diffusion selectivity of 6 and high equilibrium adsorption selectivity as indicated by coadsorption experiments. This high selectivity is attributed to the shape and size of the channel aperture within the rigid framework of Zn(purine)I.

Complexes of Platinum Group Metals with a Conformationally Locked Scorpionate in a Metal-Organic Framework: An Unusually Close Apical Interaction of Palladium(II).

We report synthetic strategies for installing platinum group metals (PGMs: Pd, Rh, Ir, and Pt) on a scorpionate-derived linker (TpmC*) within a metal-organic framework (MOF), both by room-temperature postsynthetic metalation and by direct solvothermal synthesis, with a wide range of metal loadings relevant for fundamental studies and catalysis. In-depth studies for the palladium adduct Pd(II)@Zr-TpmC* by density-functional-theory-assisted extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy reveals that the rigid MOF lattice enforces a close Pd(II)-Napical interaction between the bidentate palladium complex and the third uncoordinated pyrazole arm of the TpmC* ligand (Pd-Napical = 2.501 ± 0.067 Å), an interaction that is wholly avoided in molecular palladium scorpionates.

Hierarchically Porous Biocatalytic MOF Microreactor as a Versatile Platform towards Enhanced Multienzyme and Cofactor-Dependent Biocatalysis.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have recently emerged as excellent hosting matrices for enzyme immobilization, offering superior physical and chemical protection for biocatalytic reactions. However, for multienzyme and cofactor-dependent biocatalysis, the subtle orchestration of enzymes and cofactors is largely disrupted upon immobilizing in the rigid crystalline MOF network, which leads to a much reduced biocatalytic efficiency. Herein, we constructed hierarchically porous MOFs by controlled structural etching to enhance multienzyme and cofactor-dependent enzyme biocatalysis. The expanded size of the pores can provide sufficient space for accommodated enzymes to reorientate and spread within MOFs in their lower surface energy state as well as to decrease the inherent barriers to accelerate the diffusion rate of reactants and intermediates. Moreover, the developed hierarchically porous MOFs demonstrated outstanding tolerance to inhospitable surroundings and recyclability.

Desensitization of high explosives by encapsulation in metal-organic frameworks

High explosives (HEs) that contain a large amount of potential energy are used in various fields, including the military, mining, and construction industries. The detonation of these high-energy materials should be initiated by a desired and expected external energy; however, unintentional initiation occurs owing to internal voids inside the high explosives, referred to as hotspots. To address this issue, in this study, one of the representative HEs, 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazinane (RDX), was confined in nanoporous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with high surface areas and high pore volumes to decrease the hotspots and provide a rigid shield. The RDX-encapsulated mesoporous MOF (pore volume of 1.4 cm3/g) showed lower impact sensitivity (23%) and friction sensitivity (125%) compared to those of the non-encapsulated RDX, owing to the decrease in hotspots due to the nano-sizing of the HE and protection from external impact provided by the rigid MOF structure.