Vapor-Assisted Powder Synthesis and Oriented MOF-CVD Thin Films of the Metal-Organic Framework HKUST-1.

A vapor-assisted synthesis method was developed for the metal-organic framework (MOF) HKUST-1 in both powder and film format. The use of a solvent template supplied from the vapor phase is essential to form the framework under these conditions. Chemical vapor deposition of HKUST-1 films (MOF-CVD) results in smooth films that show the expected adsorption behavior. Interestingly, the HKUST-1 films obtained this way show a (111) preferred crystallographic orientation.