MOF-on-MOF heteroepitaxy: perfectly oriented [Zn2(ndc)2(dabco)]n grown on [Cu2(ndc)2(dabco)]n thin films.

We report the successful heteroepitaxial growth of perfectly oriented hybrid MOF thin films. By employing step-by-step liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE), [Zn(2)(ndc)(2)(dabco)](n) was grown on [Cu(2)(ndc)(2)(dabco)](n), thus demonstrating that the MOF-on-MOF deposition scheme developed for powdered microcrystalline MOF materials can also be applied in connection with LPE for MOF thin films or multilayers. The deposition was monitored by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy, the resulting MOF heterostructures were characterized using IR spectroscopy and different types of X-ray diffraction (XRD)-based techniques. The results suggest that the LPE method is a promising way to fabricate and grow MOF heterostructures, and also demonstrates the potential of [Cu(2)(ndc)(2)(dabco)](n) MOF thin films as substrates for the LPE-based growth of different MOFs on top.

MOF thin films: existing and future applications.

The applications and potentials of thin film coatings of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) supported on various substrates are discussed in this critical review. Because the demand for fabricating such porous coatings is rather obvious, in the past years several synthesis schemes have been developed for the preparation of thin porous MOF films. Interestingly, although this is an emerging field seeing a rapid development a number of different applications on MOF films were either already demonstrated or have been proposed. This review focuses on the fabrication of continuous, thin porous films, either supported on solid substrates or as free-standing membranes. The availability of such two-dimensional types of porous coatings opened the door for a number of new perspectives for functionalizing surfaces. Also for the porous materials themselves, the availability of a solid support to which the MOF-films are rigidly (in a mechanical sense) anchored provides access to applications not available for the typical MOF powders with particle sizes of a few µm. We will also address some of the potential and applications of thin films in different fields like luminescence, QCM-based sensors, optoelectronics, gas separation and catalysis. A separate chapter has been devoted to the delamination of MOF thin films and discusses the potential to use them as free-standing membranes or as nano-containers. The review also demonstrates the possibility of using MOF thin films as model systems for detailed studies on MOF-related phenomena, e.g. adsorption and diffusion of small molecules into MOFs as well as the formation mechanism of MOFs (101 references).

Probing the interaction of the amino acid alanine with the surface of ZnO(1010).

The adsorption modes and stability of the amino acid alanine (NH(2)-CH(CH(3))-COOH) have been studied on the nonpolar single crystal surface of zinc oxide, ZnO(1010), experimentally by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and computationally using density functional theory (DFT). Deposition at 200 K was found to lead to the formation of multilayers identified by an XPS N1s peak at 401.7 eV assigned to the NH(3)(+) group, a fingerprint of the zwitterionic structure of alanine in the solid state. Heating to 300 K resulted in the removal of most of the multilayers with the remaining surface coverage estimated to 0.4 with respect to Zn cations. At this temperature most of the alanine molecules are found to be deprotonated (dissociated), yielding a carboxylate species (NH(2)-CH(CH(3))-COO(-) (a) + OH (s); where O is surface oxygen, (a) for adsorbed and (s) for surface species). Further heating of the surface resulted in a gradual decrease of the surface coverage and by 500 K a large fraction of adsorbed alanine molecules have desorbed from the surface. Total energy DFT computations of different adsorbate species identified two stable dissociative adsorption modes: bidentate and monodentate. The bidentate species with adsorption energy of 1.75 eV was found to be more stable than the monodentate species by about 0.7 eV.

Grafting of monocarboxylic substituted polychlorotriphenylmethyl radicals onto a COOH-functionalized self-assembled monolayer through copper (II) metal ions.

A monocarboxylic substituted polychlorotriphenylmethyl radical (PTMCOOH) has been grafted onto a COOH-functionalized SAM (mercaptohexadecanoic acid, MHDA SAM), using copper (II) metal ions as linkers between the carboxyl groups of the SAM and the ligand. The metal-radical adlayer has been characterized thoroughly using different surface analysis techniques, such as contact angle, IRRAS, XPS, SPR, ToF-SIMS, SFM, and NEXAFS. The magnetic character was confirmed by EPR. The density of unoccupied states was investigated using X-ray absorption spectroscopy. A low-energy peak in the NEXAFS spectrum directly revealed the presence of partially occupied electronic levels, thus proving the open-shell character of the grafted ligands. SEM measurements on a laterally patterned sample prepared by muCP of MHDA in a matrix of hexadecane thiolate (a CH 3-terminated SAM) was performed to demonstrate that the metal-assisted anchoring of the open-shell ligand occurs selectively on the COOH terminated SAM. These results represent an easy and new approach to anchor organic radicals on surfaces and constitute a first step toward the growth of magnetic metal-organic radical-based frameworks on solid substrates.

Layer-by-layer growth of oriented metal organic polymers on a functionalized organic surface.

A metal-organic coordination polymer based on benzenetricarboxylic acid ligands and Zn(II) ions was grown on a COOH-terminated organic surface in a stepwise fashion. The deposited films were characterized using a number of surface analysis techniques, including X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. IR measurements show that the metal-organic coordination polymer grows in a layer-by-layer fashion and can be reversibly loaded with NH3. The deposition is very selective and occurs only on COOH-terminated regions of an organic surface, as demonstrated by AFM measurements.

Electrochemically deposited Pd islands on an organic surface: the presence of Coulomb blockade in STM I(V) curves at room temperature.

Palladium islands with a thickness of a few monolayers were deposited on top of a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) fabricated from 4-mercaptopyridine. In the I(V) curves obtained using the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) clearly the signature of Coulomb blockade is observed, explicitly demonstrating that these islands are coupled to the underlying gold substrate only via a tunneling barrier; this spectroscopic feature also allows to distinguish the palladium islands from similar morphological features present on the gold substrate prior to palladium deposition.