Converting metal-organic framework particles from hydrophilic to hydrophobic by an interfacial assembling route

Zhang, Fanyu; Sang, Xinxin; Tan, Xiuniang; Liu, Chengcheng; Zhang, Jianling; Luo, Tian; Liu, Lifei; Han, Buxing; Yang, Guanying; Binks, Bernard P.

Abstract

Here we propose to modify the hydrophilicity of metal-organic framework (MOF) particles by an interfacial assembling route, which is based on the surface-active nature of MOF particles. It was found that hydrophilic UiO-66-NH₂ particles can be converted to hydrophobic particles through an oil-water interfacial assembling route. The underlying mechanism for the conversion of UiO-66-NH₂ was investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and FT-IR spectroscopy. It was revealed that the close assembly of UiO-66-NH₂ particles at the oil-water interface strengthens the coordination between organic ligands and metal ions, which results in a decrease in the proportion of hydrophilic groups on UiO-66-NH₂ particle surfaces. Hydrophobic UiO-66-NH₂ particles show improved adsorption capacity for dyes in organic solvents compared with pristine UiO-66-NH₂ particles. It is expected that the interfacial assembling route can be applied to the synthesis of different kinds of MOF materials with tunable hydrophilicity or hydrophobicity required for diverse applications.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Oct 31, 2017
• Journal: Langmuir
• Print ISSN: 0743-7463
• Electronic ISSN: 1520-5827
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 33
• Issue: 43
• Pages: 12427-12433
• APA6 Citation: Zhang, F., Sang, X., Tan, X., Liu, C., Zhang, J., Luo, T., …Binks, B. P. (2017). Converting metal-organic framework particles from hydrophilic to hydrophobic by an interfacial assembling route. Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids, 33(43), 12427-12433. doi:10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b02365
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b02365
• Keywords: Emulsion, Interfacial assembling, Metal-organic framework, Hydrophilic, Hydrophobic
• Publisher URL: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b02365
• Additional Information: This is a description of an article published in Langmuir, 2017.