Contact : Catherine Henry de Villeneuve
Participants : Catherine Henry de Villeneuve, Michel Rosso
Thesis proposal :
Research Program for International Talents : Research Topic Proposal
MOFs (Metal Organic Frameworks) are porous crystalline materials obtained by assembling metal ions and organic ligands. These materials offer a wide variety of structural and physicochemical properties, that can be adjusted by the choice of precursors, giving them a strong potential for numerous applications. Most often synthesized in the form of (nano)microcrystalline powders, their shaping on surfaces for integration into devices is a very active area of research.
In this context, our group is interested in the realization of MOF layers by direct growth on surfaces. The approach we are developing is based on the use of silicon surfaces which allow - among other things - the implementation of highly sensitive techniques (AFM, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy) for the characterization of these thin-film materials. The systems studied are Fe/carboxylate MOFs (Fig. 1). Our works deal on the development of synthesis procedures, the study of growth mechanisms, and the structure/property relationships of these thin-film materials.
Fig.1 : Examples of MOF layers obtained from Fe3+ ions and 1,2-benzenedicarboxylate ligands (Fe-BDC) on functionalized silicon surfaces. Our results show the growth of different structural phases (MIL 101, MOF 235, MIL 68, or MIL 53) depending on the synthesis conditions (surface chemistry, solution composition...) and different layer morphologies (oriented individual crystallites, needle carpets, or dense polycrystalline layers). Thanks to high-resolution AFM images showing a periodic network of pores on the surface of nanoparticles (top right image) or a terraced structure with a characteristic step height (bottom right image), we were able to determine the crystal structure and orientation (cubic phase MIL 101, texture (111)) of ultrathin 2D nanostructures (thickness < 50 nm).
PhD : Weichu Fu (2023)
Postdoc : Weichu Fu (2023-2024), Nadia Soulmi (2020-2021)
Funding : CSC, E4C, chaire EDF-Développement durable.
Publication : Growth of Fe-BDC Metal Organic Frameworks onto functionalized Si (111) surfaces, H. Yuan, W. Fu, N. Soulmi, C. Serre, N. Steunou, M. Rosso, C. Henry-de-Villeneuve, Chemistry - An Asian Journal 17 (2022) e202200129.