Metal ion induced porous HKUST-1 nano/microcrystals with controllable morphology and size

Abstract

Porous coordination polymer HKUST-1 [Cu₃(BTC)₂] (H₃BTC = 1,3,5-benzenetricarbocylic acid) nano/microcrystals have been fabricated by an environment friendly facile direct precipitation method at room temperature using inorganic salts such as NaNO₃, NaCl, NaBr, KNO₃, KCl and KBr as additives. It is found that the concentration of the inorganic salt has an important impact on the morphology and size of the HKUST-1 crystals, and their morphology changed from cube to cuboctahedron and finally to octahedron by increasing the concentration of inorganic salts. Gas adsorption measurements reveal that HKUST-1 nano/microcrystals with different morphologies show high specific surface areas, and their gas sorption properties depend on the crystal morphology and size.