Tunable electrical conductivity of a new 3D MOFs: Cu-TATAB.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a kind of functional porous materials with the potential applications in gas adsorption and separation, catalysis, energy storage, sensor, and electrical conductivity. However, the insulating nature of the mostly MOFs limits their application in the electronic field. A new three-dimensional (3D) metal-organic framework composed of Cu2+ centres and polyacid linkers (TATAB3−) was synthesized by solvothermal method, which contains two types of Cu 24 cages. The crystal structure is cubic and each Cu is coordinated by five oxygen atoms which can be confirmed by the single crystal X-ray diffraction, infrared spectra and TGA analysis. The conductivity for this 3D MOF is increased by four orders of magnitude after doping with 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) and realizes the transformation from an insulator to semiconductor. A new three dimensional metal-organic frameworks composed of Cu2+ centres and polyacid linkers (TATAB3−) was synthesized by solvothermal method, which contains two types of Cu 24 cages. The conductivity of the Cu-MOF was increased by 4 orders of magnitude after doping with TCNQ molecules. This method realized the transformation of Cu-MOF from insulator to semiconductor. Finally, the Conductive mechanism of the doped Cu-MOF has been studied. Unlabelled Image • A new three dimensional metal-organic frameworks composed of Cu2+ centres and polyacid linkers (TATAB3-) was synthesized by solvothermal method, which contains two types of Cu 24 cages. • The structure of the as-synthesized Cu-MOF was not changed after doping with TCNQ molecules. • The conductivity of this 3D MOF was increased by four orders of magnitude after doping with 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) and realized the transformation from insulator to semiconductor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]