Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Dots in Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework Core-Shell Nanocrystals: Synthesis and Characterization

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have exciting properties and promising applications in different fields. In this work, novel zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) have been synthesized by encapsulating N-doped carbon quantum dots (N-CDs) with a blue FL into the zeolitic imidazolate framework materials core-shell structure (ZIF-8@ZIF-67). The functionalized core-shell MOFs maintained their crystal structure, morphology, and enhanced UV-vis absorbance. The properties of these new composites exhibit excellent potential for different applications including sensing, photo-catalysis, and selective adsorption.