Growth of ZIF‐8 MOF films with tuneable porosity by using Poly(1‐vinylimidazole) brushes as 3D primers.

ALLEGRETTO, JUAN A; IBORRA, AGUSTÍN; GIUSSI, JUAN M; VON BIDERLING, CATALINA; CEOLÍN, MARCELO; MOYA, SERGIO; AZZARONI, OMAR; RAFTI, MATIAS

CHEMISTRY-A EUROPEAN JOURNAL

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH

Año: 2020

0947-6539

We hereby report on a novel and versatile approach to control the structure ofMetal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) films by using polymeric brushes as 3D primers,suitable for triggering heterogeneous MOF nucleation. As a proof-of-concept, weexplored the use of Poly(1-vinylimidazole) brushes primer obtained via surface-initiatedatom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) for the synthesis of Zn-based ZIF-8 MOFfilms. By modifying the grafting density of the brushes, smooth porous films wereobtained featuring both, the inherently hydrophobic microporosity arising from ZIF-8structure, and an additional constructional interparticle mesoporosity, which can beemployed for differential adsorption of targeted adsorbates. We have found that graftingdensity modulates the constructional porosity of the films obtained; higher graftingdensities result in more compact structures, while lower grafting density, generatesincreasingly inhomogeneous films with a higher proportion of interparticle constructionalporosity.