Best Practices for the Synthesis, Activation, and Characterization of Metal–Organic Frameworks

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are structurally diverse materials comprised of inorganic and organic components. As the rapidly expanding field of MOF research has demonstrated, these materials are being explored for a wide variety of potential applications. In this tutorial review, we give an overview of the current best practices associated with the synthesis, activation, and characterization of MOFs. Methods described include supercritical CO2 activation, single crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms, surface area calculations, aqueous stability tests, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), inductively coupled plasma optical emission…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Defense
• NS
  Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
• BE
  Basic Energy Sciences

  Awards: DE-FG02-08ER15967, DE-SC0012702