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Porous materials

Lining up metal–organic frameworks

Nature Materials volume 16, pages 283–284 (2017)Cite this article

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A new report demonstrates an innovative approach to aligning crystallites of metal–organic frameworks such that thin films are created with oriented channels — potentially overcoming one of the major barriers to application of these highly topical materials.

Metal–organic frameworks, commonly termed MOFs, constitute one of the most topical fields of modern science. Among the most attractive features of these porous materials is the simplicity and elegance of the design principles that underpin the diversity of framework structures that can be synthesized1. The simple combination of metal cations with the organic ligands bridging the metal-based nodes leads to a vast range of framework materials that contain pores and cavities whose size and chemical functionality can be specifically tuned. These porous materials have many potential applications and can demonstrate high specificity for the entrapment of a range of guest molecules — from simple gases2 to complex chemical species3.

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Figure 1: Characterization of alignment in extended MOF films.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neil Champness is at the School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK,

    Neil R. Champness

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  1. Neil R. Champness
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Correspondence to Neil R. Champness.

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Champness, N. Lining up metal–organic frameworks. Nature Mater 16, 283–284 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4859

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