Improvement in Crystallinity and Porosity of Poorly Crystalline Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs) through Their Induced Growth on a Well-Crystalline MOF Template

Porous metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are interesting materials owing to their interesting structural features and their many useful properties and applications. In particular, the structural features are greatly important to optimize the MOFs’ porosities and so properties. Indeed, the MOFs’ well-developed micropore and high surface area are the most important structural features, and as such, many practical applications of MOFs originate from these structural features. We herein demonstrate a strategy for improving the crystallinity of MOFs, and so increasing the porosity and surface area of poorly crystalline MOFs by making them in core–shell-type hybrids through the induced growth on the well-crystalline template. Although poorly crystalline versions of MOFs generate naturally in the absence of the well-crystalline template, well-crystalline versions of MOFs produce inductively in the presence of the well-crystalline template. In addition, the crystallinity enhancement of MOFs brings together the improvement in their porosities and surface areas. The surface areas and pore volumes of the well-crystalline versions of MOFs produced through the induced growth on the template are calculated based on this study, indicating that MOF surface areas increase by up to 7 times compared to the poorly crystalline versions.