Four-dimensional metal-organic frameworks

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 2690
• Main Authors: Evans, Jack D., Bon, Volodymyr, Senkovska, Irena, Lee, Hui-Chun, Kaskel, Stefan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01-06-2020; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 119/118; 147/28; 639/301/357/1015; 639/301/930/12; 639/638/298/921; 639/638/298/923; Adsorption; Engineers; Enzymes; Evolution; Formability; Gases; Humanities and Social Sciences; Metal-organic frameworks; multidisciplinary; Perspective; Pore size; Porous materials; Questions; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16527-8

Recognising timescale as an adjustable dimension in porous solids provides a new perspective to develop novel four-dimensional framework materials. The deliberate design of three-dimensional porous framework architectures is a developed field; however, the understanding of dynamics in open frameworks leaves a number of key questions unanswered: What factors determine the spatiotemporal evolution of deformable networks? Can we deliberately engineer the response of dynamic materials along a time-axis? How can we engineer energy barriers for the selective recognition of molecules? Answering these questions will require significant methodological development to understand structural dynamics across a range of time and length scales.
As the field of metal-organic frameworks is maturing, understanding the dynamics of open frameworks is progressing and rational approaches are under development. Here, the authors outline challenges and potential routes to engineering the spatio-temporal evolution of dynamic metal-organic frameworks.