Issue 17, 2023

Oriented attachment interfaces of zeolitic imidazolate framework nanocrystals

Abstract

Understanding the growth and coarsening mechanisms of metal–organic framework (MOF) nanoparticles is crucially important for the design and fabrication of MOF materials with diverse functionalities and controllable stability. Oriented attachment (OA) growth is a common manner of MOF nanocrystal coarsening and agglomeration, but the underlying molecular mechanisms have not been well understood to date. Here we report the molecular-scale characterization of the OA interfaces of zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) crystals by state-of-the-art low-dose aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy. A series of OA interfaces with different molecular structures are captured, implying that multiple kinetic steps are involved in the OA growth of ZIF crystals from non-directional physical attractions between primary nanocrystals, lattice-aligned attachment of the ligand-capped nanocrystals, to coherent interfaces with perfect lattice alignment or stacking faults. It was found that the surface-capping organic ligands not only play an essential role in crystal lattice alignment by near-field directional interactions, but also dominate the interfacial reaction kinetics by interfacial diffusion-controlled elimination of excess surface-capping ligands. These observations provide molecular-scale insights into the OA growth mechanisms of ZIF crystals, which is important for engineering MOF crystal growth pathways by designing surface-capping ligands.

Graphical abstract: Oriented attachment interfaces of zeolitic imidazolate framework nanocrystals

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
14 Feb 2023
Accepted
28 Mar 2023
First published
28 Mar 2023

Nanoscale, 2023,15, 7703-7709

Author version available

Oriented attachment interfaces of zeolitic imidazolate framework nanocrystals

X. Han, R. Su, W. Chen, Q. Han, Y. Tian, J. Han, X. Wang, S. Song, K. M. Reddy, H. Deng, P. Liu and M. Chen, Nanoscale, 2023, 15, 7703 DOI: 10.1039/D3NR00702B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements