Adsorbate-induced lattice deformation in IRMOF-74 series

S Jawahery and CM Simon and E Braun and M Witman and D Tiana and B Vlaisavljevich and B Smit, NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 8, 13945 (2017).

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13945

IRMOF-74 analogues are among the most widely studied metal-organic frameworks ( MOFs) for adsorption applications because of their one- dimensional channels and high metal density. Most studies involving the IRMOF-74 series assume that the crystal lattice is rigid. This assumption guides the interpretation of experimental data, as changes in the crystal symmetry have so far been ignored as a possibility in the literature. Here, we report a deformation pattern, induced by the adsorption of argon, for IRMOF-74-V. This work has two main implications. First, we use molecular simulations to demonstrate that the IRMOF-74 series undergoes a deformation that is similar to the mechanism behind breathing MOFs, but is unique because the deformation pattern extends beyond a single unit cell of the original structure. Second, we provide an alternative interpretation of experimental small- angle X-ray scattering profiles of these systems, which changes how we view the fundamentals of adsorption in this MOF series.

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