Liquid phase stepwise growth of surface mounted metal–organic frameworks for exploratory research and development of applications

Due to their various interesting properties (e.g., porosity, chirality, magnetism and luminescence), metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) show great potential in a large number of applications ranging from life sciences to industry. One way to process and formulate them into application-specific configurations is to fabricate composite materials where MOFs are mounted on flat substrates or other shaped bodies. Among the library of MOF film preparation techniques, the liquid phase stepwise growth approach has shown its feasibility in the fabrication of homogeneous and highly crystalline surface-mounted MOFs. This review will focus on the fundamental properties (e.g., growth mechanism, sorption, electrical and mechanical properties) of stepwise grown MOF films toward the development of their applications in separation, chemical sensing and catalysis.