Mega-MOF's super surface

Metalأ¢â‚¬â€œorganic frameworks, or MOFs, are of interest for applications such as catalysis and gas storage. Researchers now report a method that allowed them to synthesize these porous crystals with record-breaking surface areas.

Omar Farha at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and his colleagues created two copper-based MOFs, each with a surface area of approximately 7,000 square metres per gram. To help boost surface area, they used supercritical carbon dioxide to activate the MOFs, avoiding framework collapse, which can occur when the solvents used in MOF synthesis are removed.

Moreover, the authors calculated that by using acetylenes, rather than more bulky phenyls, as links in their framework, they could further increase the theoretical maximum surface area of MOFs to as high as 14,600 square metres per gram, roughly 40% higher than some previous estimates, the team suggests.