Deposition of Metal Clusters into the Functionalized Metal Organic Frameworks

Utilizing first-principles density functional theory calculations, we identify that weak adhesion of metal clusters (for example Cu and Au) on pristine MOF-5, IRMOF-3, IRMOF-3-OH and IRMOF-3-SH, which reveals that metal clusters may be unable to stably exist in the pore of MOFs. Furthermore, upon removing the hydrogen of NH2, SH and OH functional groups, the adsorption energy between metal cluster and functionalized MOFs improve, which ascribes to chemical adsorption. Meanwhile, these metal clusters become cationic as a result of the formation of metal-O, S or N adhesion bonds. Hence, our study may provide a candidate approach to deposit metal clusters into the pore of MOFs.