The role of solvents in framework dimensionality and their effect on band gap energy

The crystal growth rate and morphology can be modulated by tuning the ratio of the solvent in mixed solvents during synthesis. We present here a solvothermal method to synthesize a Cd-FDC based metal-organic framework with different morphologies by tuning the ratio of water in the DMF-water mixed solvent system without adding any other additives. With the increasing water volume ratio a series of crystals with different morphologies were synthesized. Among these we have isolated two single crystal structures, [Cd3(FDC)3(DMF)4(H2O)], and [DMA]2[Cd3(FDC)4]·2H2O, . Compound was synthesized from DMF with small amounts of water while was formed from 25 vol% of water in the DMF-water mixed solvent. Compound contains trimer clusters as building units, which are linked by the furan dicarboxylate ligand to form a two-dimensional structure. Compound also contains trimer clusters which are linked to each other to form a one-dimensional chain with the Cd-O-Cd linkage. This one-dimensional chain in turn is connected by the furan dicarboxylate ligand to form a three-dimensional structure. All these structures are characterized by SEM, XRD, TGA and IR. We have measured the band gap energy and measurements show that the values are decreasing from to . The lower band gap energy of may be due to the presence of infinite Cd-O-Cd linkages which split the states of the conduction band and reduces the band gap energy.