Controllable Synthesis of Highly Uniform Nanosized HKUST-1 Crystals by Liquid–Solid–Solution Method

Nowadays, preparation of nanosized metal–organic frameworks (NMOFs) has attracted great attention for diverse applications, such as drug delivery, biological imaging, catalysis, and functional membranes. In this report, highly uniform nanosized HKUST-1 crystals with sizes from about 30 to 140 nm were obtained by the liquid–solid–solution (LSS) method, which is mainly based on a general phase transfer and separation mechanism occurring at the interfaces of the liquid, solid, and solution phases. The SEM, TEM, PXRD, FTIR, TGA, and gas adsorption–desorption analysis results demonstrated the successful preparation of nanosized HKUST-1 crystals. This work further proves its feasibility of the LSS method to synthesize NMOFs, which may open up a facile and universal method to facilitate the fundamental research on preparing NMOFs.