Issue 8, 2023

Room-temperature stacking disorder in layered covalent-organic frameworks from machine-learning force fields

Abstract

The local structures of layered covalent-organic frameworks (COFs) deviate from the average crystal structures assigned from X-ray diffraction experiments. For two prototype COFs of Tp-Azo and DAAQ-TFP, density functional theory calculations have shown that the eclipsed structure is not an energy minimum and that the internal energy is lowered for an inclined stacking arrangement. Here we explore the structural disorder of these frameworks at 300 K through molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using an on-the-fly machine learning force field (MLFF). We find that an initially eclipsed stacking mode spontaneously distorts to form a zigzag configuration that lowers the free energy of the crystal. The simulated diffraction patterns show good agreement with experimental observations. The dynamic disorder from the MLFF MD trajectories is found to persist in mesoscale MD simulations of 155 thousand atoms, giving further confidence in our conclusions. Our simulations show that the stacking behaviour of layered COFs is more complicated than previously understood.

Graphical abstract: Room-temperature stacking disorder in layered covalent-organic frameworks from machine-learning force fields

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
01 Marts 2023
Accepted
26 Apr. 2023
First published
01 Maijs 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Mater. Horiz., 2023,10, 2883-2891

Room-temperature stacking disorder in layered covalent-organic frameworks from machine-learning force fields

J. Huang, S. Shin, K. Tolborg, A. M. Ganose, G. Krenzer and A. Walsh, Mater. Horiz., 2023, 10, 2883 DOI: 10.1039/D3MH00314K

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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