Laterally Engineering Lanthanide-MOFs Epitaxial Heterostructures for Spatially Resolved Planar 2D Photonic Barcoding

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) heterostructures with domain-controlled emissive colors have shown great potential for achieving high-throughput sensing, anti-counterfeit and information security. Here, a strategy based on steric-hindrance effect is proposed to construct lateral lanthanide-MOFs (Ln-MOFs) epitaxial heterostructures, where the channel-directed guest molecules are introduced to rebalance in-plane and out-of-plane growth rates of the Ln-MOFs microrods and eventually generate lateral MOF epitaxial heterostructures with controllable aspect ratios. A library of lateral Ln-MOFs heterostructures are acquired through a stepwise epitaxial growth procedure, from which rational modulation of each domain with specific lanthanide doping species allows for definition of photonic barcodes in a two-dimensional (2D) domain with remarkably enlarged encoding capacity. The results provide molecular-level insight into the use of modulators in governing crystallite morphology for spatially assembling multifunctional heterostructures.

Automated summary

A strategy based on steric-hindrance effect is proposed to construct lateral lanthanide-MOFs epitaxial heterostructures, allowing for the generation of lateral MOF epitaxial heterostructures with controllable aspect ratios. Through a stepwise epitaxial growth procedure, a library of lateral Ln-MOFs heterostructures are acquired, enabling the definition of photonic barcodes in a two-dimensional domain with remarkably enlarged encoding capacity. The results provide insight into the use of modulators in governing crystallite morphology for spatially assembling multifunctional heterostructures.