In situ synthesis of metal–organic frameworks
(MOFs) on
flexible materials for the fabrication of functional platforms and
micro-devices is challenging. The time-/precursor-consuming procedure
and uncontrollable assembly are stumbling blocks for constructing
this platform. Herein, a novel in situ MOF synthesis method on paper
substrates by use of the ring-oven-assisted technique was reported.
Utilizing the ring-oven’s heating and washing function, MOFs
can be synthesized in 30 min on the designated position of paper chips
with extremely low-volume precursors. The principle of this method
was explained by steam condensation deposition. The MOFs’ growth
procedure was theoretically calculated by crystal sizes and the results
conformed to the Christian equation. As different MOFs (Cu-MOF-74,
Cu-BTB, Cu-BTC) can be synthesized successfully on paper-based chips,
the ring-oven-assisted in situ synthesis method has great generality.
Then, the prepared Cu-MOF-74 loading paper-based chip was applied
to the chemiluminescence (CL) detection of nitrite (NO2
–), based on the catalysis effect of Cu-MOF-74
on the NO2
––H2O2 CL system. Also, by the delicate design of the paper-based
chip, NO2
– can be detected with the detection
limit (DL) of 0.5 nM in whole blood samples without sample pretreatment.
This work establishes a distinctive method for the in situ synthesis
of MOFs and the application of MOFs on paper-based CL chips.