Quests for advanced functionalities in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) inevitably encounter increasing complexity in their architectures. Various strategies have been put forward to introduce functionalities into MOFs. Among them, core-shell strategy can increase MOF complexity to an additional level, where one MOF with one set of unique properties is encapsulated in a second MOF. In comparison to traditional MOFs, core-shell MOFs add another level of structural complexity to the hierarchy: in addition to the inorganic building blocks and organic linkers, their specific assemblies are stratified that dramatically extend the research field and potential applications of MOFs. Herein, we synthesized a series of heterogeneous core-shell MOFs with mesoporous PCN-222 (PCN= porous coordination network) cores and microporous UiO (UiO= University of Oslo) shells through one-pot synthesis by controlling nucleation kinetics of MOF growth. Isoreticular expansion of UiO shells and orthogonal modification of the core/shell species can be realized in PCN-222@UiO systems to produce multifunctional MOF composites. The inner core, PCN-222, exhibits biomimetic catalytic activities, while the shell layer, UiO-series, can be isoreticularly expanded by changing the length of ligands to modulate the size selectivity. The combination makes these core-shell MOFs promising as selective catalysts for olefin epoxidation.

Kinetically guided one-pot synthesis of heterogeneous core-shell metal-organic frameworks

254th National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.