Metal-Organic Frameworks: Synthesis and Applications

Metal-organic frameworks are crystalline, highly porous solids built by linking metal ions or clusters to organic molecules, producing structures with internal surface areas that can exceed several thousand square meters per gram. Researchers study how variations in the metal nodes and organic linkers control pore size, shape, and chemistry, with the goal of tailoring these materials for practical tasks such as capturing carbon dioxide, storing methane for vehicle fuel, delivering drugs to specific tissues, and accelerating chemical reactions. Central open questions include how to make MOFs stable enough to survive real-world conditions—moisture, heat, repeated use—without losing their structural integrity, and how to scale synthesis from milligram quantities in the lab to industrial production while maintaining precise control over crystal architecture.

Works

129,395

Total citations

4,311,189

Keywords

Metal-Organic FrameworksPorous MaterialsGas AdsorptionCatalysisMethane StorageCrystal Engineering