Metal–Organic Framework Based Composites

Dear Colleagues,

I’m glad to present this Special Issue devoted to Metal–Organic Framework-Based Composites.

MOFs are compounds constituted by metal groups and organic molecules (linkers) joined together to form microporous crystalline networks. Since a multitude of metal groups and organic linkers can be combined to build MOFs, a wide variety of crystalline frameworks are achievable, with variable chemical composition and properties. Such structures typically exhibit remarkable values of surface area (larger than 10000 m²/g) and outstanding physicochemical properties that make them of potential interest in many relevant fields of research and applications involving gas storage, separation, catalysis, drug delivery, sensing, and so on.

In recent years, the spectrum of the properties and consequently of the potential applications of MOFs has been further significantly extended by the advent of composites, involving MOFs in combination with other functional materials or molecules. As expected, such composites bring together the properties of the constituent materials, making it possible, for example, to compensate for the shortcomings of MOFs, such as their limited chemical stability and/or mechanical strength. In addition, new and interesting properties frequently come out from the collective behavior of the hybrids, further increasing their potentiality in many fields. The most promising examples of such composites involve MOFs integrated with carbon-related materials (activated carbon, nanotubes, graphene, graphene oxide, nanodots), amorphous silicon dioxide (nanoparticles, mesoporous silica), metal nanoparticles, magnetic and/or luminescent nanoparticles, functional molecules, etc. Furthermore, different MOFs can be combined to form heterostructures, such as core–shell systems, with very important properties. 

The current Materials Special Issue is mainly focused on the recent progress in synthesis and characterization of MOF composite materials, with the intent to bring out the most promising hybrid systems and their outstanding properties.

I invite all the colleagues involved in this exciting field of research to submit manuscripts to this Special Issue as research articles, reviews or short communications.

Prof. Gianpiero Buscarino
Guest Editor

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• Metal–organic frameworks
• Porous coordination polymer
• Composites
• Hybrids
• Heterostructures
• Design and synthesis
• Advanced characterization
• Gas storage
• Separations
• Drug delivery
• Catalysis