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Characterizing amorphous MOFs

Nature Reviews Chemistry volume 5, page 298 (2021)Cite this article

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Amorphous metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as materials that show promise in diverse applications, including catalysis and drug delivery. However, these amorphous materials are considerably more difficult to characterize than are their crystalline counterparts. Without reliable structural data, it is hard to develop the structure–property relationships necessary to rationally design amorphous MOFs for specific applications. Now, writing in Nature Communications, a collaboration led by Thomas Bennett describes a combined experimental and computational approach to interrogate the structure of amorphous MOFs.

Making use of advanced electron microscopy, Bennett and colleagues first established that Fe-BTC has a nanocomposite structure, in which crystalline nanoparticles are embedded within an amorphous matrix. Seeking to characterize the atomic structure of Fe-BTC at length scales beyond those previously examined, the team turned to total scattering measurements. Synchrotron X-ray radiation at Diamond Light Source afforded the high-resolution structural data necessary to reveal both the local and long-range structure of the materials. Pair distribution function (PDF) analysis suggests that 39–64% of the trimers within Fe-BTC form tetrahedra but, unlike MIL-100, with little long-range ordering. “A key revelation is that the local structure of Fe-BTC extends beyond what had previously been detected,” remarks Sapnik.

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References

Original article

  • Sapnik, A. F. et al. Mixed hierarchical local structure in a disordered metal–organic framework. Nat. Commun. 12, 2062 (2021)

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  1. Nature Reviews Chemistry http://www.nature.com/natrevchem/

    Claire Ashworth

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  1. Claire Ashworth
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Correspondence to Claire Ashworth.

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Ashworth, C. Characterizing amorphous MOFs. Nat Rev Chem 5, 298 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-021-00282-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-021-00282-5

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