Caiping Liu

A porous metal-organic framework with ultrahigh acetylene uptake capacity under ambient conditions

Acetylene, an important petrochemical raw material, is very difficult to store safely under compression because of its highly explosive nature. Here we present a porous metal-organic framework named FJI-H8, with both suitable pore space and rich open metal sites, for efficient storage of acetylene under ambient conditions. Compared with existing reports, FJI-H8 shows a record-high gravimetric acetylene uptake of 224 cm3 (STP) g−1 and the second-highest volumetric uptake of 196 cm3 (STP) cm−3 at 295 K and 1 atm. Increasing the storage temperature to 308 K has only a small effect on its acetylene storage capacity (∼200 cm3 (STP) g−1). Furthermore, FJI-H8 exhibits an excellent repeatability with only 3.8% loss of its acetylene storage capacity after five cycles of adsorption–desorption tests. Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation reveals that not only open metal sites but also the suitable pore space and geometry play key roles in its remarkable acetylene uptake.

Stabilizing Cesium Lead Halide Perovskite Lattice through Mn(II) Substitution for Air-Stable Light-Emitting Diodes

All-inorganic cesium lead halide perovskite (CsPbX3, X = Cl, Br, and I) quantum dots (QDs), possessing high photoluminescence quantum yields and tunable color output, have recently been endowed great promise for high-performance solar cells and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Although moisture stability has been greatly improved through separating QDs with a SiO2 shell, the practical applications of CsPbX3 QDs are severely restricted by their poor thermal stability, which is associated with the intrinsically low formation energies of perovskite lattices. In this regard, enhancing the formation energies of perovskite lattices of CsPbX3 QDs holds great promise in getting to the root of their poor thermal stability, which hitherto remains untouched. Herein, we demonstrate an effective strategy through Mn2+ substitution to fundamentally stabilize perovskite lattices of CsPbX3 QDs even at high temperatures up to 200 °C under ambient air conditions. We employ first-principle calculations to confirm that the significantly improved thermal stability and optical performance of CsPbX3:Mn2+ QDs arise primarily from the enhanced formation energy due to the successful doping of Mn2+ in CsPbX3 QDs. Benefiting from such an effective substitution strategy, these Mn2+-doped CsPbX3 QDs can function well as efficient light emitters toward the fabrication of high-performance perovskite LEDs.

Rapid and discriminative detection of nitro aromatic compounds with high sensitivity using two zinc MOFs synthesized through a temperature-modulated method

Two 3D MOFs (1 and 2) have been solvothermally synthesized by introducing a π-electron conjugated fluorescent aromatic polycarboxylate ligand under the modulation of reaction temperature. Intriguingly, complex 2 shows an unusual fluorescence thermochromism. Upon decreasing the temperature, the emission bands exhibit different variation behaviors which result in dramatic changes of the emission color. The fluorescence of 1 and 2 dispersed in DMF (N,N-dimethylformamide) can be selectively and sensitively quenched by using nitro aromatic compounds (NACs) with a fast response time of just 10 s, indicating that 1 and 2 are potential real-time response candidates for detecting NACs. More interestingly, when DNP (2,4-dinitrophenol) and PNA (p-nitroaniline) are introduced, distinctive fluorescence signals, which can discriminate them from other NACs, are observed, making 1 and 2 the rare materials that can distinguish different nitro aromatic molecules.

Carbon dioxide capture and conversion by an acid-base resistant metal-organic framework.

Considering the rapid increase of CO2 emission, especially from power plants, there is a constant need for materials which can effectively eliminate post-combustion CO2 (the main component: CO2/N2 = 15/85). Here, we show the design and synthesis of a Cu(II) metal-organic framework (FJI-H14) with a high density of active sites, which displays unusual acid and base stability and high volumetric uptake (171 cm3 cm−3) of CO2 under ambient conditions (298 K, 1 atm), making it a potential adsorbing agent for post-combustion CO2. Moreover, CO2 from simulated post-combustion flue gas can be smoothly converted into corresponding cyclic carbonates by the FJI-H14 catalyst. Such high CO2 adsorption capacity and moderate catalytic activity may result from the synergistic effect of multiple active sites.Increasing CO2 emissions pose serious environmental issues. Here, the authors report the synthesis of a robust metal-organic framework which displays high volumetric uptake of post-combustion CO2 under ambient conditions and can catalyze CO2 fixation into cyclic carbonates.

Diverse architectures and luminescence properties of two novel copper(I) coordination polymers assembled from 2,6-bis[3-(pyrid-4-yl)-1,2,4-triazolyl]pyridine ligands

Two attractive Cu(I) coordination polymers with unique structures, namely, {[Cu8(bptp)4]·6H2O} (1) and {[Cu5(bptp)2(CN)]·2H2O} (2), have been successfully synthesized based on a V-shaped multidentate N-containing ligand 2,6-bis[3-(pyrid-4-yl)-1,2,4-triazolyl]pyridine (H2bptp). The structural analysis reveals that complex 1 displays a Cu8 cluster-based infinite 1D ladder chain, in which each H2bptp ligand links four or five Cu(I) ions through nitrogen atoms of pyridine/triazole groups. Complex 2 features an unusual (3,4,5)-connected 3D topological network with the Schlafli symbol (42·54·63·7)(42·63·7)(5·6·8)(5·62·7·82), which has not been reported before. The structural and dimensional diversity of the two complexes indicates that H2bptp exhibits strong coordination ability and diverse coordination modes. It is worth mentioning that the Cu⋯Cu distances in 1 and 2 are shorter than the sum of the van der Waals radii of copper(I) (2.80 A), implying the metal–metal bonding interactions. What is more, the solid-state luminescence bands of 1 and 2 have also been investigated between 298 and 10 K. Interestingly, the low-energy emission bands of 1 and 2 exhibit yellow/orange-red luminescence, and their intensities increase gradually upon cooling.

Visualizing the Dynamics of Temperature- and Solvent-Responsive Soft Crystals

We demonstrate that three flexible MOFs termed FJI-H11-R (FJI-H=Hongs group in Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, R=Me, Et, (i) Pr) can reversibly respond to temperature and solvents via structural transformations, which can be visualized by in situ single-crystal X-ray snapshot analyses. FJI-H11-R exhibit colossal anisotropic thermal expansion, with a record-high uniaxial positive thermal-expansion coefficient of 653.2×10(-6)  K(-1) observed in FJI-H11-Me. Additionally, large c-axial shrinkage of 32.4 % is also observed during desolvation. The stimuli-responsive mechanism reveals the structural evolutions are related to the rotations and deformations of the organic linkers.

Prefunctionalized Porous Organic Polymers: Effective Supports of Surface Palladium Nanoparticles for the Enhancement of Catalytic Performances in Dehalogenation.

Three porous organic polymers (POPs) containing H, COOMe, and COO(-) groups at 2,6-bis(1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)pyridyl (BTP) units (i.e., POP-1, POP-2, and POP-3, respectively) were prepared for the immobilization of metal nanoparticles (NPs). The ultrafine palladium NPs are uniformly encapsulated in the interior pores of POP-1, whereas uniform- and dual-distributed palladium NPs are located on the external surface of POP-2 and POP-3, respectively. The presence of carboxylate groups not only endows POP-3 an outstanding dispersibility in H2 O/EtOH, but also enables the palladium NPs at the surface to show the highest catalytic activity, stability, and recyclability in dehalogenation reactions of chlorobenzene at 25 °C. The palladium NPs on the external surface are effectively stabilized by the functionalized POPs containing BTP units and carboxylate groups, which provides a new insight for highly efficient catalytic systems based on surface metal NPs of porous materials.

Minimum Polarizability Principle Applied to Lowest Energy Isomers of Some Gaseous All-Metal Clusters

In comparison with the minimum energy criterion as an indicator of the most stable state, the minimum polarizability and maximum hardness principles have been examined to describe the relative stability of various isomers of nine gaseous all-metal clusters M4X- (Cu4Na-, Cu4Li-, Al4Cu-, Ag4Li-, Au4Li-, Ag4Na-, Au4Na-, Al4Ag-, Al4Au-) on the basis of MP2 calculations. In these species, there are two lowest energy isomers with near isoenergy that sometimes make it very difficult to determine which of them is more stable when we depend only on the minimum energy criterion. According to the minimum polarizability principle, however, the square-pyramidal structure is always more stable than the planar isomer at various computational levels, which was also confirmed by the results from the minimum energy principle that sometimes requires higher computational precision. Thus, there is an indication that, at least for our present cluster system, the minimum polarizability principle is less dependent on the computational levels compared to the minimum energy principle.

Electronic circular dichroism of some double-helical alkynyl cyclophanes with 1,1′-binaphthyl auxiliaries investigated using time-dependent density functional calculations

For several double-helical molecules, the dependence of electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra on the molecular and electronic structures is investigated on the basis of TDDFT computations with the B3LYP hybrid functional. The calculations of a model molecule reveal that an acute-angled rotational dihedral angle other than an obtuse-angled rotational dihedral angle between two naphthyls implies Davydov splitting of exciton coupling. For the R enantiomers, the acute-angled rotational dihedral angle implies a negative lowest-energy Cotton effect, which is induced by electron density transfer from binaphthyls to phenyethynyls in the S0 → S4 excitations. Due to the large positive rotational strength of the S0 → S1 transition, the lowest-energy Cotton effect of the simplest cyclophane R-1 is positive, where the electron density transfer from phenyethynyls to binaphthyls plays an important role.

Control the Structure of Zr-Tetracarboxylate Frameworks through Steric Tuning

Ligands with flexible conformations add to the structural diversity of metal-organic frameworks but, at the same time, pose a challenge to structural design and prediction. Representative examples include Zr-tetracarboxylate-based MOFs, which afford assorted structures for a wide range of applications, but also complicate the structural control. Herein, we systematically studied the formation mechanism of a series of (4,8)-connected Zr-tetracarboxylate-based MOFs by altering the substituents on different positions of the organic linkers. Different ligand rotamers give rise to three types of structures with flu, scu, and csq topologies. A combination of experiment and molecular simulation indicate that the steric hindrance of the substituents at different positions dictates the resulting MOF structures. Additionally, the controllable formation of different structures was successfully implemented by a combination of linkers with different steric effects at specific positions.