One-step flashlight processing of MOF thin films for non-linear light absorption

Abstract

Although flashlight processing is an energy-efficient and fast technological approach for one-step patterning of polymers, metals, and dielectrics for diverse applications, it has not yet been implemented for hybrid materials such as metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). Herein, we report a one-step and large-scale patterning of different MOF thin films using a flash xenon lamp and a given mask in real time with cm² s⁻¹ speed. Structural and morphological analyses confirmed that the resulting patterns consisted of carbon and metal derivatives. We demonstrated that the resulting patterns acted as visible and near-infrared light absorbers with nonlinear absorption coefficients of 10² to 10⁴ cm GW⁻¹, exceeding those of most of the metal films, initial MOFs, and metal–carbon hybrids. Thus, these results open up a universal one-step approach to pattern arbitrary MOFs for nonlinear optical applications in desired ways.