High-Throughput Fabrication of Uniform and Homogenous MOF Coatings

We describe a novel method to produce monolithic, oriented, crystalline and highly porous coatings on solid substrates. By adopting the recently described liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE) process developed to grow metal-organic framework coatings (MOFs) on modified Au-substrates to the spray method, we have prepared thick (mu m) layers of several MOF types on modified Au-substrates, including HKUST-I and layer-pillar MOFs. The spray method not only allows such SURMOFs to be grown much faster than with the LPE-process but the dependence of layer thickness on the number of immersion cycles also provides valuable insights into the mechanism governing the layer-by-layer MOF formation process.