Interrogation of the Effect of Polymorphism of a Metal-Organic Framework Host on the Structure of Embedded Pd Guest Nanoparticles

Joshua D Butson; Hyunjeong Kim; Krishnan Murugappan; Martin Saunders; Craig E Buckley; Debbie S Silvester; Petra Á Szilágyi

doi:10.1002/cphc.201801037

Interrogation of the Effect of Polymorphism of a Metal-Organic Framework Host on the Structure of Embedded Pd Guest Nanoparticles

Chemphyschem. 2019 Mar 4;20(5):745-751. doi: 10.1002/cphc.201801037. Epub 2019 Feb 20.

Authors

Joshua D Butson¹, Hyunjeong Kim², Krishnan Murugappan³, Martin Saunders⁴, Craig E Buckley⁵, Debbie S Silvester⁶, Petra Á Szilágyi⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Research School of Physics and Engineering, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
² National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba West, 16-1 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8569, Japan.
³ Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PH, UK.
⁴ Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, M010, Perth, WA 6009, Australia.
⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Fuels and Energy Technology Institute, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia.
⁶ Curtin Institute for Functional Molecules and Interfaces, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Bentley 6102, Australia.
⁷ School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK.

PMID: 30614177
DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201801037

Abstract

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are very promising host materials for nanoscale guest materials. However, some MOFs such as MIL-53 are known to undergo phase transitions which can complicate the guest particle size control. In this study, Pd nanoparticles embedded in Al-MIL-53 were synthesised via (a) electrodeposition and (b) gas-phase reduction. A thorough structural investigation revealed that each synthesis method most likely favoured a different phase of Al-MIL-53, presenting the possibility of MOF phase selection as a technique for size control of embedded nanoparticles. For the first time, we hereby report the use of pair distribution function analysis to successfully investigate the structure and morphology of guest particles embedded in a MOF host.

Keywords: electrodeposition; metal nanocluster; metal-organic frameworks; phase selection; phase transition.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Abstract

Publication types

Grants and funding