Controlled crystallization of cyano-bridged Cu-Pt coordination polymers with two-dimensional morphology

Two-dimensional (2D) coordination polymers (CPs) have a highly accessible surface area that permits guest molecules to effectively access the micropores in the CPs. Here we report a bottom-up synthesis of 2D cyano-bridged Cu-Pt CP nanoflakes using trisodium citrate as a chelating agent, which controls the nucleation rate and the crystal growth. The lateral sizes of the CP nanoflakes are controlled by changing the amount of trisodium citrate used. We strongly believe that our method will be useful for the preparation of other types of 2D CP nanoflakes. The 2D CPs have many active sites for catalytic and electrochemical reactions, and furthermore the assembled CPs can be used as membrane filters.