Crystalline, Highly Oriented MOF Thin Film: the Fabrication and Application

The thin film of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is a rapidly developing research area which has tremendous potential applications in many fields. One of the major challenges in this area is to fabricate MOF thin film with good crystallinity, high orientation and well-controlled thickness. In order to address this challenge, different appealing approaches have been studied intensively. Among various oriented MOF films, many efforts have also been devoted to developing novel properties and broad applications, such as in gas separator, thermoelectric, storage medium and photovoltaics. As a result, there has been a large demand for fundamental studies that can provide guidance and experimental data for further applications. In this account, we intend to present an overview of current synthetic methods for fabricating oriented crystalline MOF thin film and bring some updated applications. We give our perspective on the background, preparation and applications that led to the developments in this area and discuss the opportunities and challenges of using crystalline, highly oriented MOF thin film.