Synthesis of MOF-5 nanostructures by laser ablation method in liquid and evaluation of its properties

Capability of pulsed laser ablation (PLA) in liquid environment as a physical bottom-up method to synthesis metal-organic framework MOF-5 has been investigated experimentally for the first time. In this experiment, a high-purity zinc (Zn) target was irradiated by the fundamental wavelength of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser in a solution of dimethylformamide (DMF) containing terephthalic acid. A variety of diagnostics were employed to investigate the properties of MOF-5 nanostructures and to study the effects of laser fluence and concentration of acid on their characteristics. The porous and rod structure of synthesized MOF-5s observed in SEM images and their cubic shape observed in TEM microimages in good agreement with XRD and FTIR spectra confirm the production of MOF-5 nanostructures by PLA method. Results show that size of synthesized MOF-5 nanostructures was decreased with increasing the laser fluence. Furthermore, an amount of produced nanostructures was increased with increasing the ligand concentration in the liquid environment of ablation and laser fluence.

Automated summary

The experimental investigation of using pulsed laser ablation in liquid environment as a physical bottom-up method to synthesize metal-organic framework MOF-5 has been conducted for the first time. The results show that the size of synthesized MOF-5 nanostructures decreases with increasing laser fluence, while increasing the ligand concentration and laser fluence in the liquid environment of ablation leads to an increase in the quantity of produced nanostructures.