Visualizing Defects and Pore Connectivity Within Metal-organic Frameworks by X-ray Transmission Tomography

Overview

Journal Chem Sci

Publisher Royal Society of Chemistry

Specialty Chemistry

Date 2021 Jul 5

PMID 34221328

Citations 2

Authors

Rafael Mayorga-Gonzalez

Miguel Rivera-Torrente

Nikolaos Nikolopoulos

Koen W Bossers

Roozbeh Valadian

Joaquin Yus

Beatriz Seoane

Bert M Weckhuysen

Florian Meirer

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) have the potential to change the landscape of molecular separations in chemical processes owing to their ability of selectively binding molecules. Their molecular sorting properties generally rely on the micro- and meso-pore structure, as well as on the presence of coordinatively unsaturated sites that interact with the different chemical species present in the feed. In this work, we show a first-of-its-kind tomographic imaging of the crystal morphology of a metal-organic framework by means of transmission X-ray microscopy (TXM), including a detailed data reconstruction and processing approach. Corroboration with Focused Ion Beam-Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB-SEM) images shows the potential of this strategy for further (non-destructively) assessing the inner architecture of MOF crystals. By doing this, we have unraveled the presence of large voids in the internal structure of a MIL-47(V) crystal, which are typically thought of as rather homogeneous lattices. This challenges the established opinion that hydrothermal syntheses yield relatively defect-free material and sheds further light on the internal morphology of crystals.

Citing Articles

Densification of Alloying Anodes for High Energy Lithium-Ion Batteries: Critical Perspective on Inter- Versus Intra-Particle Porosity.

Luo Y, Chen Y, Koratkar N, Liu W Adv Sci (Weinh). 2024; 11(34):e2403530.

PMID: 38975809 PMC: 11425885. DOI: 10.1002/advs.202403530.

Confinement of Luminescent Guests in Metal-Organic Frameworks: Understanding Pathways from Synthesis and Multimodal Characterization to Potential Applications of LG@MOF Systems.

Gutierrez M, Zhang Y, Tan J Chem Rev. 2022; 122(11):10438-10483.

PMID: 35427119 PMC: 9185685. DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00980.

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