Abstract
The function of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) is fundamentally governed by their synthesis precision. Here, we report a light-driven strategy enabling ambient-temperature MOFs synthesis (15 °C, 4 hours) for cobalt-porphyrin frameworks (phoPPF-3), overcoming traditional thermal constraints. This approach achieves multidimensional control, manifested in two-dimensional hourglass morphologies and selective Co2⁺-carboxylate coordination that preserves free-base porphyrin cores unattainable conventionally. Resulting phoPPF-3 exhibits enhanced thermal stability and higher photocatalytic activity in benzyl alcohol oxidation and H2 evolution comparing to solvothermal analogues. The methodology demonstrates a certain generality through successful extension to other MOFs. This work marks the demonstration of using photons to initiate and guide MOFs synthesis and establishes a sustainable approach for atomically precise MOFs engineering via photochemical control.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the financial support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Fonds de recherche du Quebec-Nature et technologies (FRQNT), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (22475130). D.M. is also grateful to the Canada Research Chairs Program. S.K.M. thanks the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), Government of India, for financial support under grant no. ANRF/IRG/2024/000078/ENS and ISIRD grant from IIT Ropar. We thank the Facility for Electron Microscopy Research (FEMR) of McGill University for help in electron microscopy operation and data collection. We thank Dr. Chuhan Fu in Ganjiang Innovation Academy for help in BET and XRD measurements. We also thank Prof. Aycan Yurtsever in Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique for his support on laser-integrated transmission electron microscopy.
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D.M., Y.L., and Y.W. conceived the concepts of photochemical synthesis of porphyrin MOFs and MOFs-based materials for photocatalysis. Y.L., Y.W., J.G., and R.Y. carried out the synthesis of samples and most of the characterizations. J.G. worked on the photocatalytic benzyl alcohol oxidation, UV-Vis, XRD, and DFT simulations for materials. K.K. had done the MD simulation for materials under the supervision of S.K.M. W.H. worked on the laser-integrated TEM analysis of materials. J.V. and W.H. carried out the 3D electron tomography reconstruction of phoPPF-3 under the supervision of A.M., D.M., and Y.L. Besides, Y.W., D.M., Y.L., Y.W., J.G., G.H., S.H., and Y.Z. all advised the experiments. Y.W., J.G., Y.L., and D.M. co-wrote the manuscript, and W.H. and K.K. also contributed to the manuscript.
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Wang, Y., Guan, J., Kumar, K. et al. Room temperature photochemical synthesis of metal–organic frameworks for enhanced photocatalysis. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-70927-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-70927-w
