Semi-automatic deposition of oriented Cu(OH)2 nanobelts for the heteroepitaxial growth of Metal-Organic Framework films
Authors/Creators
- 1. Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Graz University of Technology, Stremayrgasse 9, Graz 8010, Austria.
- 2. Institute of Solid State Physics, Graz University of Technology, Petersgasse 16, A-8010 Graz, Austria.
- 3. Department of Materials Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka Prefecture University, 1-1, Gakuencho, Naka-ku, Sakai, Osaka 599-8531, Japan.
- 4. Department of Chemistry and the Centre of Advanced Nanomaterials, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
Description
Processing oriented metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as thin films is a key challenge to for their application to device fabrication. However, typical fabrication methods cannot generate precisely oriented crystals on commercially relevant scales (i.e. cm2). This limits access to applications that require anisotropic functional properties (e.g. separation, optics, and electronics). Recently, highly oriented copper-based MOFs have been synthesized via the addition of the organic MOF component to an ethanolic solution of manually aligned Cu(OH)2 nanobelt films. In this work we report the optimization of a semi-automatic method that affords a 100% yield of high quality ceramic films, at the cm scale, for the fabrication of precisely oriented MOF coatings. This improved fabrication protocol will facilitate the progress of heteroepitaxially grown MOFs for molecular separators and micro-opto-electronic devices.