Metal-organic frameworks (MOFS): structural multifunctionality and integration into diverse platforms

Abstract

Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are a relatively new class of porous materials constituted by strong bonds between inorganic clusters (or secondary building units - SBUs) and organic struts forming open crystalline networks. Due to the large variety of inorganic and organic building units possible to be connected, there are more than 10000 MOFs crystallographic structures reported so far in the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD). This structural versatility together with the possibility for their pre- and post-synthetic functionalization, provide with a great number of opportunities in terms of surface chemistry and functionalization for their application in diverse fields such as selective gas adsorption and storage, sensors and actuators, energy storage and conversion, among others. In this article, we briefly survey significant contributions related to synthesis and post-synthetic modification of MOFs and composite materials integrating MOFs. These materials feature interesting properties such as superacidity, high chemoselectivity in heterogeneous catalysis, pre-concentration at electrochemical interfaces, or selective adsorption of industrial and environmentally relevant gases.