(9b) An Aerosol Route to the Continuous Synthesis of Metal-Organic Framework Materials

Hyuk Taek Kwon¹, and Hae-Kwon Jeong*^1,2

¹Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering and ²Materials Science and Engineering Program

Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3122

* Corresponding author: hjeong7@mail.che.tamu.edu

Metal-organic-frameworks (MOFs)^[1] are hybrid organic-inorganic nanoporous materials exhibit crystalline lattices with unprecedented pore structures and functionalities^[2], enabling a variety of applications^[3] in catalysis^[4], gas storage/separation^[5], sensors^[6], drug delivery^[7], and biomedical imaging^[8]. However, advanced and/or practical applications often require cost-effective construction of materials with complex hierarchical microstructures that cannot be easily obtained with conventional precipitation methods such as solvothermal synthesis. An innovative strategy needs to be developed to fully harvest the potential of this emerging class of nanoporous framework materials for advanced and/or practical applications. Little work has been reported to control microstructures of MOFs though microstructures have significant effects on the properties of MOFs. Whether synthesizing new MOFs or controlling microstructures, current solvothermal methods are not viable since they are in general time-consuming and it is difficult to construct MOFs with complex microstructure.

In this presentation, we would like to discuss an aerosol-based approach for the large-scale synthesis of MOFs with hierarchical microstructures by combining processing techniques and coordination chemistry. We will demonstrate the feasibility of this approach for MOF synthesis with some of the prototypical MOFs such as HKUST-1, and ZIF-7. We will also discuss how the processing conditions such as the flow rate of sweeping gas, furnace temperature, and concentration of precursors affect the size and morphology of particles.

References and Notes

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