Solvent-Dependent Adsorption-Driven Mechanism for MOFs-Based Yolk-Shell Nanostructures

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-based yolk-shell nanostructures have drawn enormous attention recently due to their multifunctionality. However, the regulations of the size and morphology of yolk-shell nanostructures are still limited by the unclear formation mechanism. Herein, we first demonstrated a solvent-dependent adsorption-driven mechanism for synthesizing yolk-shelled MOFs-based nanostructures coated with mesoporous SiO2 shells (ZIF-8@mSiO(2)) with tunable size and morphology. The selective and competitive adsorption of methanol (CH3OH) and water (H2O) on ZIF-8 core were found to have decisive effects on inducing the morphology evolution of yolk-shell nanostructures. The obtained yolk-shelled ZIF-8@mSiO(2) nanostructures show great promise in generating acoustic cavitation effect for sonodynamic cancer therapy in vitro. We believe that this work will not only help us to design novel MOFs-based yolk-shell nanostructures, but also promote the widespread application of MOFs materials.

Automated summary

This study demonstrated a solvent-dependent adsorption-driven mechanism for synthesizing yolk-shelled MOFs-based nanostructures with tunable size and morphology coated with mesoporous SiO2 shells. The selective and competitive adsorption of methanol and water on the core had decisive effects on inducing the morphology evolution of yolk-shell nanostructures. The obtained nanostructures showed great promise in generating acoustic cavitation effect for sonodynamic cancer therapy in vitro.