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Interplay between defects, disorder and flexibility in metal-organic frameworks

Nature Chemistry volume 9, pages 11–16 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Metal-organic frameworks are a novel family of chemically diverse materials, which are of interest across engineering, physics, chemistry, biology and medicine-based disciplines. Since the development of the field in its current form more than two decades ago, priority has been placed on the synthesis of new structures. However, more recently, a clear trend has emerged in shifting the emphasis from material design to exploring the chemical and physical properties of structures already known. In particular, although such nanoporous materials were traditionally seen as rigid crystalline structures, there is growing evidence that large-scale flexibility, the presence of defects and long-range disorder are not the exception in metal-organic frameworks, but the rule. Here we offer some perspective into how these concepts are perhaps inescapably intertwined, highlight recent advances in our understanding and discuss how a consideration of the interfaces between them may lead to enhancements of the materials' functionalities.

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Figure 1: Flexibility, defects and disorder in metal-organic frameworks.
Figure 2: Interplay between defects and flexibility in metal-organic frameworks.
Figure 3: The relationships between flexibility and disorder in metal-organic frameworks.
Figure 4: Coupling between defects and disorder in metal-organic frameworks.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge CECAM and CNRS for funding the Workshop on Flexibility and Disorder in Metal-Organic Frameworks (Paris, 3–5 June 2015), which spurred discussion of these topics. TDB acknowledges Trinity Hall (University of Cambridge) for funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, 27 Charles Babbage Road, CB3 0FS, Cambridge, UK

    Thomas D. Bennett & Anthony K. Cheetham

  2. Chimie ParisTech, PSL Research University, CNRS, Institut de Recherche de Chimie Paris, 75005, Paris, France

    Alain H. Fuchs & François-Xavier Coudert

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  1. Thomas D. Bennett
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All authors initiated this discussion and designed the paper, T.D.B. and F.-X.C. wrote the manuscript, all authors revised it.

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Correspondence to Thomas D. Bennett or François-Xavier Coudert.

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Bennett, T., Cheetham, A., Fuchs, A. et al. Interplay between defects, disorder and flexibility in metal-organic frameworks. Nature Chem 9, 11–16 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2691

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