Epitaxial Self-Assembly of Interfaces of 2D Metal–Organic Frameworks for Electroanalytical Detection of Neurotransmitters

systems prove more selective and sensitive for the detection of dopamine than the {100} facets of the same MOF, with the limit of detection (LOD) of 9.9 ± 2 nM in phosphate-buffered saline and 214 ± 48 nM in a simulated cerebrospinal fluid. Langmuir isotherm studies accompanied by all-atom MD simulations suggested that the observed improvement in performance and selectivity is related to the adsorption characteristics of analytes on the basal plane versus edge sites of the MOF interfaces. This work establishes that the distinct crystallographic facets of 2D MOFs can be used to control the fundamental interactions between analyte and electrode, leading to tunable electrochemical properties by controlling their preferential orientation through self-assembly.