Nanoscale hierarchically porous metal-organic frameworks: facile synthesis, mechanism research and application

Hierarchically porous metal–organic frameworks (H-MOFs) with nanoscale size can endow them with desired properties in promising applications. However, there has been little research focusing on the nanoscale H-MOFs until now. Herein, a simple and versatile synthetic strategy has been developed to rapidly prepare nanoscale hierarchically porous ZIF-67 (NH-ZIF-67) crystals through employing an organic amine as bifunctional modulator. The as-synthesized nanoscale NH-ZIF-67 exhibited tunable porosity and excellent thermal stability. The formation mechanism of the nanoscale H-MOFs was disclosed by mesoscopic dynamics simulation. Specifically, the introduced organic amine modulator not only accelerated the nucleation of crystals but also served as a structure directing agent (SDA) to fabricate the hierarchically porous structure. Furthermore, in comparison to microporous ZIF-67, the attained NH-ZIF-67 sample exhibited enhanced adsorption performance in the capture of malachite green and toluene. The rapid synth...