Design, Synthesis, and applications of New Metal Organic Frameworks, and Metal Organic Frameworks-Polymer System

Abstract

Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are emerging porous crystalline materials which have many applications ranging from adsorption, catalysis, to drug delivery and fluorescence. Previous work from the literature showed that combining MOFs and polymers resulted in enhancement of the properties and performance of the developed systems in specific applications. Herein, we investigate the effect of combining both MOF and polymer chemistry to develop fluorescent nanocrystals based on a well-known fluorescent conjugated polymer namely poly(phenyl ethylene), PPE-CO2 and integrated with zirconium cluster that exhibits high chemical and thermal stability. Also, the obtained nanocrystals are fully characterized using a set of spectrometric and microscopic techniques. The optical characteristics (fluorescent intensities and photostability) of these crystals are further investigated. In addition, the physio-chemical properties of our synthesized nanocrystals are compared with another composite assembled by mixing PPECO2 with UiO-66 MOF. Finally, novel stable MOFs are synthesized from new metalo-linkers. The produced MOFs crystals are promising photocatalysts since they incorporate a catalytic center in their backbones. Therefore, they will be tested for carbon dioxide conversion under visible light illumination. To demonstrate the heterogeneity of the system, control experiments will be performed by using the free metallo-complex as photocatalyst. Finally, the recyclability and the stability of the MOFs will be assessed. In brief, this work paves the way towards the development of new MOF systems and composites for a multitude of promising applications.