Unravelling surface and interfacial structures of a metal-organic framework by transmission electron microscopy

Yihan Zhu; Jim Ciston; Bin Zheng; Xiaohe Miao; Cory Czarnik; Yichang Pan; Rachid Sougrat; Zhiping Lai; Chia En Hsiung; Kexin Yao; Ingo Pinnau; Ming Pan; Yu Han

doi:10.1038/nmat4852

Unravelling surface and interfacial structures of a metal-organic framework by transmission electron microscopy

Yihan Zhu, Jim Ciston, Bin Zheng, Xiaohe Miao, Cory Czarnik, Yichang Pan, Rachid Sougrat, Zhiping Lai, Chia En Hsiung, Kexin Yao, Ingo Pinnau, Ming Pan, Yu Han

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

338 Scopus citations

Abstract

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are crystalline porous materials with designable topology, porosity and functionality, having promising applications in gas storage and separation, ion conduction and catalysis. It is challenging to observe MOFs with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) due to the extreme instability of MOFs upon electron beam irradiation. Here, we use a direct-detection electron-counting camera to acquire TEM images of the MOF ZIF-8 with an ultralow dose of 4.1 electrons per square ångström to retain the structural integrity. The obtained image involves structural information transferred up to 2.1 Å, allowing the resolution of individual atomic columns of Zn and organic linkers in the framework. Furthermore, TEM reveals important local structural features of ZIF-8 crystals that cannot be identified by diffraction techniques, including armchair-type surface terminations and coherent interfaces between assembled crystals. These observations allow us to understand how ZIF-8 crystals self-assemble and the subsequent influence of interfacial cavities on mass transport of guest molecules.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	532-536
Number of pages	5
Journal	Nature Materials
Volume	16
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4852
State	Published - 1 May 2017
Externally published	Yes

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title = "Unravelling surface and interfacial structures of a metal-organic framework by transmission electron microscopy",

abstract = "Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are crystalline porous materials with designable topology, porosity and functionality, having promising applications in gas storage and separation, ion conduction and catalysis. It is challenging to observe MOFs with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) due to the extreme instability of MOFs upon electron beam irradiation. Here, we use a direct-detection electron-counting camera to acquire TEM images of the MOF ZIF-8 with an ultralow dose of 4.1 electrons per square {\aa}ngstr{\"o}m to retain the structural integrity. The obtained image involves structural information transferred up to 2.1 {\AA}, allowing the resolution of individual atomic columns of Zn and organic linkers in the framework. Furthermore, TEM reveals important local structural features of ZIF-8 crystals that cannot be identified by diffraction techniques, including armchair-type surface terminations and coherent interfaces between assembled crystals. These observations allow us to understand how ZIF-8 crystals self-assemble and the subsequent influence of interfacial cavities on mass transport of guest molecules.",

author = "Yihan Zhu and Jim Ciston and Bin Zheng and Xiaohe Miao and Cory Czarnik and Yichang Pan and Rachid Sougrat and Zhiping Lai and Hsiung, {Chia En} and Kexin Yao and Ingo Pinnau and Ming Pan and Yu Han",

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doi = "10.1038/nmat4852",

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T1 - Unravelling surface and interfacial structures of a metal-organic framework by transmission electron microscopy

AU - Zhu, Yihan

AU - Ciston, Jim

AU - Zheng, Bin

AU - Miao, Xiaohe

AU - Czarnik, Cory

AU - Pan, Yichang

AU - Sougrat, Rachid

AU - Lai, Zhiping

AU - Hsiung, Chia En

AU - Yao, Kexin

AU - Pinnau, Ingo

AU - Pan, Ming

AU - Han, Yu

PY - 2017/5/1

Y1 - 2017/5/1

N2 - Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are crystalline porous materials with designable topology, porosity and functionality, having promising applications in gas storage and separation, ion conduction and catalysis. It is challenging to observe MOFs with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) due to the extreme instability of MOFs upon electron beam irradiation. Here, we use a direct-detection electron-counting camera to acquire TEM images of the MOF ZIF-8 with an ultralow dose of 4.1 electrons per square ångström to retain the structural integrity. The obtained image involves structural information transferred up to 2.1 Å, allowing the resolution of individual atomic columns of Zn and organic linkers in the framework. Furthermore, TEM reveals important local structural features of ZIF-8 crystals that cannot be identified by diffraction techniques, including armchair-type surface terminations and coherent interfaces between assembled crystals. These observations allow us to understand how ZIF-8 crystals self-assemble and the subsequent influence of interfacial cavities on mass transport of guest molecules.

AB - Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are crystalline porous materials with designable topology, porosity and functionality, having promising applications in gas storage and separation, ion conduction and catalysis. It is challenging to observe MOFs with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) due to the extreme instability of MOFs upon electron beam irradiation. Here, we use a direct-detection electron-counting camera to acquire TEM images of the MOF ZIF-8 with an ultralow dose of 4.1 electrons per square ångström to retain the structural integrity. The obtained image involves structural information transferred up to 2.1 Å, allowing the resolution of individual atomic columns of Zn and organic linkers in the framework. Furthermore, TEM reveals important local structural features of ZIF-8 crystals that cannot be identified by diffraction techniques, including armchair-type surface terminations and coherent interfaces between assembled crystals. These observations allow us to understand how ZIF-8 crystals self-assemble and the subsequent influence of interfacial cavities on mass transport of guest molecules.

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DO - 10.1038/nmat4852

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AN - SCOPUS:85014085401

SN - 1476-1122

VL - 16

SP - 532

EP - 536

JO - Nature Materials

JF - Nature Materials

IS - 5

ER -

Unravelling surface and interfacial structures of a metal-organic framework by transmission electron microscopy

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