Metal–organic frameworks meet polymer brushes: enhanced crystalline film growth induced by macromolecular primers

Abstract

We used poly-(3-sulfopropylmethacrylate) brushes as macromolecular 3D primers to promote heterogeneous nucleation and growth of archetypal ZIF-8 MOF thin films. The enhancement can be understood in terms of a high preconcentration of Zn²⁺ ions in the polymer brush; this leads to a rapid increase of nucleation sites in the primer.