Metal-Organic Framework Thin Films: From Fundamentals to Applications

A systematic and comprehensive treatment of metal-organic framework (MOF) thin films is presented and the existing collection of processing methods from various perspectives are rationaized. A method developed by H. Kitagawa, R. Makiura, and co-workers relies on MOF layers made in a Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) apparatus that are transferred one after another onto a silicon substrate with intermediate rinsing steps. Carbonell et al. produced arrays of HKUST-1 single crystals, in which the substrates were homogeneously covered with various SAMs. Sanchez, Serre, and co-workers prepared well-defined MOF particles and transfer them onto a surface by dip coating. Surface modifications of MOF single crystals were pioneered by Gadzikwa et al., who were inspired by postsynthetic modification strategies. A reactive group was incorporated into the ligand and protected so as to allow synthesis of MOF single crystals.