Wei Guo, Zhenyu Zhou, Ning Han, Wei Zhang, Hongwei Pan, Yong Liu, Sijie Xie, Wouter Monnens, Xueliang Zhang, Nicolas Chanut, Mathieu Etienne, Rob Ameloot, Xuan Zhang and Jan Fransaer have published a new study on metal–organic framework (MOF) thin films in Journal of the American Chemical Society
In this work, the authors demonstrate an ultrafast, room-temperature electrosynthesis method for making zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) films—crystalline materials from the MOF family that are promising for separation, sensing, and catalysis. By coordinating metal cations with imidazolate linkers through a modulator-driven mechanism, they overcome conventional nucleation bottlenecks and deposit well-formed ZIF-8 films in less than 10 seconds, directly from aqueous solution.
Importantly, this method is compatible with various substrates, including copper foil and anodic aluminum oxide (AAO), and is applicable to multiple ZIF chemistries (ZIF-4, ZIF-7, ZIF-67). The strategy also opens the door to roll-to-roll production, offering a scalable, energy-efficient route toward MOF coatings under mild conditions.
Reference:
Guo, W., Zhou, Z., Han, N., Zhang, W., Pan, H., Liu, Y., Xie, S., Monnens, W., Zhang, X., Chanut, N., Etienne, M., Ameloot, R., Zhang, X., & Fransaer, J. The Ultra-Fast Room-Temperature Electrosynthesis of Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework Films, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2025. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.5c05749
Acknowledgements:
The authors acknowledge support from SIM² KU Leuven and associated research programmes in materials chemistry and electrochemical processing.
