Design and Synthesis of Supported Nanoscale Metal–Organic Frameworks: Transformation from Transition Metal Silicates

Abstract

Size control over metal−organic frameworks (MOFs) has been an important topic for this class of solid-state supramolecular materials. Herein, utilizing copper silicate as a solid metal source for the first time, we developed a novel environmentally friendly method to synthesize ultrasmall (5−9 nm) HKUST-1 nanoparticles supported on copper silicate nanotubes. Furthermore, by doping copper silicate nanotubes with other transition metal ions, many types of ultrasmall MOF nanoparticles (e.g., ZIF-8, ZIF-67, etc.) can be attained using the same approach. Compared with microsized MOFs synthesized through solution reaction from metal salts, these ultrasmall MOFs show extraordinary performance on organic dye adsorption. This research further sheds insight into the growth mechanism of MOF crystals using solid matters as metal sources, which allow us to employ ecofriendly feature from this general synthetic approach to construct intricate MOF nanocomposites.

Synthesis and Characterization of an SWCNT@HKUST-1 Composite: Enhancing the CO2 Adsorption Properties of HKUST-1

“…A more plausible scenario is where SWCNTs could serve as a growing template or a crystallization seed for the HKUST-1. This type of templated growth has been reported in several nanostructures coated with MOFs, for different applications. − The difference between the crystal morphology of the HKUST-1 (cuboctahedron) with the thin rod crystals of the 5 wt % SWCNT@HKUST-1 (see Figure S3) points to this templated growth.…”

Recent Advances in the Use of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Dye Adsorption

“…Ultrasmall nanoparticles of various MOFs, such as HKUST-1, ZIF-8, and ZIF-67, supported on copper silicate nanotubes (CuSiNT), have also been prepared by either using the CuSiNT directly as a starting material or by doping other transition metal ions with CuSiNT (Qin and Zeng, 2018 ). The CuSiNT-supported HKUST-1 nanocomposites were demonstrated to show enhanced adsorption of methyl orange, congo red, thymol blue than their microsized couterparts.…”

Transformation of Stöber Silica Spheres to Hollow Nanocatalysts

“…In the first example, firstly, SiO 2 spheres were converted to copper silicate hollow spheres using an ammonia‐hydrothermal process (Figure B) . The produced copper silicate is characterized with elongated nanotubes grown on the periphery of its external surface.…”