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arXiv · 1904.09497

Interplay between Defects, Disorder and Flexibility in Metal-Organic Frameworks

Thomas D. Bennett·Anthony K. Cheetham·Alain H. Fuchs·François-Xavier Coudert
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Abstract

Metal-organic frameworks are a novel family of chemically diverse materials, which are of interest across engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine-based disciplines. Since the development of the field in its current form more than two decades ago, priority has been placed on the synthesis of new structures. However, more recently, a clear trend has emerged in shifting the emphasis from material design to exploring the chemical and physical properties of those already known. In particular --- while such nanoporous materials were traditionally seen as rigid crystalline structures --- there is growing evidence that large-scale flexibility, the presence of defects and long-range disorder, are not the exception, but rather the norm, in metal-organic frameworks. Here we offer some perspective into how these concepts are perhaps inescapably intertwined, highlight recent advances in our understanding, and discuss how a consideration of the interfaces between them may lead to enhancements of the materials' functionalities.

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Thomas D. Bennett, Anthony K. Cheetham, Alain H. Fuchs, François-Xavier Coudert. 2019-04-20. Interplay between Defects, Disorder and Flexibility in Metal-Organic Frameworks. https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2691

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