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Analytical chemistry

Defects visualized in porous solids

Nature volume 493, pages 313–314 (2013)Cite this article

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The use of confocal fluorescence microscopy to image defects in crystalline, porous solids known as metal–organic frameworks enables the relationship between the number of defects and the materials' properties to be determined.

Porous crystalline solids are of great interest for many chemical applications, including separations, catalysis and ion exchange1. Such solids often contain defects that can markedly impair their performance2, but visualizing the defects in single particles of material can be difficult. Writing in Angewandte Chemie, Ameloot et al.3 report that an optical imaging technique called confocal fluorescence microscopy can be used for the three-dimensional visualization of defects in single crystals of metal–organic frameworks — a versatile class of porous material.

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Figure 1: Defect accumulation in metal–organic frameworks.

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  1. Christian Serre is at the Institut Lavoisier Versailles, University of Versailles St-Quentinen-Yvelines, 78035 Versailles, France.,

    Christian Serre

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  1. Christian Serre
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Correspondence to Christian Serre.

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Serre, C. Defects visualized in porous solids. Nature 493, 313–314 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/493313a

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