Fighting at the Interface: Structural Evolution during Heteroepitaxial Growth of Cyanometallate Coordination Polymers

Hybridization of coordination polymers allows for combining two or more distinct structures into one material. Here, we explore the core/shell-type materials of Prussian blue analogues (PBAs) by heteroepitaxial growth and demonstrate how one phase structurally dominates the other. The volumetric ratio between the shell and core crystals determine the final structure of the hybrids. The outermost dominated the Na+ ion insertion/extraction, illustrating how the hybridization can adjust the function of PBAs.