Issue 32, 2022

Cu3(BTC)2 nanoflakes synthesized in an ionic liquid/water binary solvent and their catalytic properties

Abstract

Low-dimensional metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) exhibit enhanced properties compared with three-dimensional (3D) geometry MOFs in many fields. In this work, we demonstrate the synthesis of Cu3(BTC)2 (BTC = benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate) nanoflakes in a binary solvent of ionic liquid (IL) and water. Such a MOF architecture has a high surface area and abundant unsaturated coordination metal sites, making them attractive for adsorption and catalysis. For example, in catalyzing the oxidation reactions of a series of alcohols, the Cu3(BTC)2 nanoflakes exhibit a high performance that is superior to Cu3(BTC)2 microparticles synthesized in a conventional solvent. Experimental and theoretical studies reveal that the IL accelerates the crystallization of Cu3(BTC)2, while water plays a role in stripping the Cu3(BTC)2 blocks that are formed at an early stage through its attack on the crystal plane of Cu3(BTC)2. Such an in situ crystallization–exfoliation process that uses an IL/water solvent opens a new route for producing low-dimensional MOFs.

Graphical abstract: Cu3(BTC)2 nanoflakes synthesized in an ionic liquid/water binary solvent and their catalytic properties

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Jun 2022
Accepted
25 Jul 2022
First published
25 Jul 2022

Soft Matter, 2022,18, 6009-6014

Cu3(BTC)2 nanoflakes synthesized in an ionic liquid/water binary solvent and their catalytic properties

Z. Su, J. Zhang, B. Zhang, X. Cheng, M. Xu, Y. Sha, Y. Wang, J. Hu, L. Zheng and B. Han, Soft Matter, 2022, 18, 6009 DOI: 10.1039/D2SM00749E

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