Synthesis of Zn-based metal-organic frameworks in ionic liquid microemulsions at room temperature

For the first time, Zn-metal-organic frameworks (Zn-MOFs) were prepared using Zn²⁺ and the aromatic ligand 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid (BTC) in ionic liquid microemulsions stabilized by the surfactant TX-100. This proposed environmentally friendly approach to synthesize Zn-MOFs is simple, requires no energy input, and operates at room temperature. The synthesized Zn-MOFs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), single crystal X-ray diffraction and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The results showed that two different Zn-MOF crystals had been successfully synthesized and that [NaZn(C₉H₃O₆)(H₂O)₄]·1.5H₂O was prepared by using this method for the first time. The influence of different parameters such as the pH value, the ratio of reactants, and reaction time on the morphology and size of the Zn-MOFs was studied. Long rod Zn-MOFs with an average size of ∼25 μm could be obtained in the ionic liquid microemulsions with a molar ratio (organic ligand to metal ion) of 1 : 1 at pH 5.98 for 24 h. The crystal type and morphology of the Zn-MOFs could be controlled by the ionic liquid microemulsions at room temperature. This green synthesis method can be used to study their industrial production.