Morphology Design of IRMOF‑3 Crystal by Coordination
Modulation
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Abstract
A one-pot synthesis design on shape-controlled
growth of Zn-based
isoreticular metal–organic framework (i.e., IRMOF-3) was carried
out in this work with the controllable crystal morphological evolution
from simple cubes to several complex shapes. A new synthetic protocol
was devised where poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP), noble metal source
(AgNO<sub>3</sub>), mixed solvents (<i>N</i>,<i>N</i>-dimethylformamide (DMF)–ethanol mixture) and tetramethylammonium
bromide (TMAB) were mutually introduced to the reaction medium as
surfactant, adjuvant, accelerator, and structure-directing agent (SDA),
respectively. Meanwhile, the crystallization process was investigated
by a series of time-dependent experiments. Indeed, the added modulators
and crystallization time were able to regulate the growth and thus
the morphology of the final products. The resulting homogeneous IRMOF-3-Ag-<i><b>n</b></i> materials with unique and novel crystal morphologies
were characterized via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray powder
diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric and differential thermal analyses
(TG-DTA), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), infrared spectrum
(IR), and optical microscope characterizations. Various shapes of
IRMOF-3-Ag-<i><b>n</b></i> crystals as sorbents for
capturing dibenzothiophene (DBT) were evaluated. Among all the morphology-controlled
samples, IRMOF-3-Ag-<b>5</b> with hollow sphere morphology was
demonstrated to show the highest DBT capture capacity due to its unique
morphology