Issue 12, 2019

Flux melting of metal–organic frameworks

Abstract

Recent demonstrations of melting in the metal–organic framework (MOF) family have created interest in the interfacial domain between inorganic glasses and amorphous organic polymers. The chemical and physical behaviour of porous hybrid liquids and glasses is of particular interest, though opportunities are limited by the inaccessible melting temperatures of many MOFs. Here, we show that the processing technique of flux melting, ‘borrowed’ from the inorganic domain, may be applied in order to melt ZIF-8, a material which does not possess an accessible liquid state in the pure form. Effectively, we employ the high-temperature liquid state of one MOF as a solvent for a secondary, non-melting MOF component. Differential scanning calorimetry, small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering, electron microscopy and X-ray total scattering techniques are used to show the flux melting of the crystalline component within the liquid. Gas adsorption and positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy measurements show that this results in enhanced, accessible porosity to a range of guest molecules in the resultant flux melted MOF glass.

Graphical abstract: Flux melting of metal–organic frameworks

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
11 sep. 2018
Accepted
12 feb. 2019
First published
12 feb. 2019
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 3592-3601

Flux melting of metal–organic frameworks

L. Longley, S. M. Collins, S. Li, G. J. Smales, I. Erucar, A. Qiao, J. Hou, C. M. Doherty,, A. W. Thornton, A. J. Hill, X. Yu, N. J. Terrill, A. J. Smith, S. M. Cohen, P. A. Midgley, D. A. Keen, S. G. Telfer and T. D. Bennett, Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 3592 DOI: 10.1039/C8SC04044C

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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