From Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-8 to Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs): Representative Substance for the General Study of Pioneering MOF Applications

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been intensely studied for the past few decades as an enormous family of highly tunable porous materials with promisingly applicable functionalities in adsorption, separation, catalysis, sensing, electrochemistry, and a great number of emerging purposes. As a classic MOF, zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) is conventionally one of the very few MOF members that has been commercialized with considerable production. Its large surface areas, well-controlled porosity and textural tunability, high thermal and chemical stability allows researchers to conduct enormous studies on derivatives of MOFs and MOF-related composites using ZIF-8 as the prior sampling substance. However, despite all the remarkable discoveries leading almost all aspects of future applications of MOFs, no specific work has yet been done to recapitulatively summarize these achievements centered around the current limitations and prospects of their common demonstrator, ZIF-8, for its integration into real processes or applications, thus drastically blinding people from distinctly observing the inner correlations among all these researches. To wipe out this confusion and make the usages of ZIF-8 both in applicable systems and upfront explorations much more understandable and convenient to all researches of relevant application areas, this review aims at offering clear guidance, experience, and references by meticulously categorizing published works associated with ZIF-8.