Shaping of Metal-Organic Frameworks: From Fluid to Shaped Bodies and Robust Foams

The applications of metal,organic frameworks (MOFs) toward industrial separation, catalysis) sensing, and some sophisticated devices are drastically: affected by their intrinsic fragility and poor processability. Unlike organic polymers, MOF crystals are insoluble in any solvents and are usually not thermoplastic, which means traditional solvent- or melting-based processing techniques :are, not applicable for MOFs. Herein,, a continuous phase transformation processing strategy - proposed Por fabricating' and shaping MOFs into processable fluids, shaped bodies, and even. MOF foams that are capable of reversible transformation among these states. Based on this strategy, a cup-shaped Cu-MOF composite :and hierarchically porous MOF foam were developed for highly efficient catalytic C H oxidation (cony. 76% and sele. 93% for cup-shaped Cu-MOF composite and cony. 92% and sele. 97% for porous foam) with ease of recycling and dramatically improved kinetics. Furthermore, various MOP-based foams with low densities (<0.1 g cm(-3)) and high MOF loadings (up to 80 wt %) were obtained via this protocol. Imparted with hierarchically porous structures and fully accessible MOFs uniformly distributed, these foams presented low energy penalty (pressure drop <20 Pa, at 500 na, min(-1)) and showed potential applications as efficient membrane reactors.