Switchable Conductive MOF-Nanocarbon Composite Coatings as Threshold Sensing Architectures

Switchable metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) showing pronounced and stepwise volume changes as a response toward external stimuli such as partial pressure changes were integrated into electron conductive composites to generate novel threshold sensors with pronounced resistivity changes when approaching a critical partial pressure. Two "gate pressure" MOFs (DUT-8(Ni), DUT = Dresden University of Technology, and ELM-11, ELM = Elastic Layer-structured MOF) and one "breathing" MOF (MIL-53(Al), MIL = Material Institute Lavoisier) are shown to cover a wide range of detectable gas concentrations (∼20-80%) using this concept. The highest resistance change is observed for composites containing a percolating carbon nanoparticle network (slightly above the percolation threshold concentration). The volume change of the MOF particles disrupts the percolating network, resulting in a colossal resistance change up to 7500%. Repeated threshold detection is particularly feasible using MIL-53(Al) due to its high mechanical and chemical stability, even enabling application of the composite sensor concept in ambient environment for the detection of volatile organic compounds at high concentration levels.