Effects of High Gamma Doses on the Structural Stability of Metal-Organic Frameworks

Four different MOFs were exposed to gamma rays by a cobalt-60 source reaching a maximum dose of 5 MGy. The results showed that the MIL-100 (Cr) and MIL-100 (Fe) did not exhibit obvious structural damage, suggesting their excellent radiation stability. MIL-101 (Cr) showed good radiation stability up to 4 MGy, but its structure started degrading with increasing radiation dose. Furthermore, the results showed that the structure of AlFu MOFs started to decompose at a gamma dose of 1 MGy, exhibiting a much lower tolerance to gamma radiation. At this radiation energy, the dominant interaction of the gamma-ray with MOFs is the Compton effect and the radiation stability of MOFs can be improved by prolific aromatic linkers, high linker connectivity, and good crystallinity. The results of this study indicate that MIL-100 and MIL-101 MOFs have a good potential to be employed in nuclear applications, where relatively high radiation doses play a role, for example, nuclear waste treatment and radionuclides production.

Automated summary

Four different MOFs were exposed to gamma rays, and the study found that MIL-100 (Cr) and MIL-100 (Fe) exhibited excellent radiation stability, while MIL-101 (Cr) showed good stability up to 4 MGy but degraded with higher doses. The AlFu MOFs showed poor radiation stability.