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Updated: Jul 31, 2025

Author Spotlight: Characterizing Porous Materials for Aiding the Development of Robust Metal-Organic Frameworks with Adsorption Behavior
Published on: March 8, 2024
Synergistic binding sites in a metal-organic framework for the optical sensing of nitrogen dioxide
Isabel Del Castillo-Velilla1, Ahmad Sousaraei1, Ignacio Romero-Muñiz1
1Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
Abstract:
Luminescent metal-organic frameworks are an emerging class of optical sensors, able to capture and detect toxic gases. Herein, we report the incorporation of synergistic binding sites in MOF-808 through post-synthetic modification with copper for optical sensing of NO2 at remarkably low concentrations. Computational modelling and advanced synchrotron characterization tools are applied to elucidate the atomic structure of the copper sites. The excellent performance of Cu-MOF-808 is explained by the synergistic effect between the hydroxo/aquo-terminated Zr6O8 clusters and the copper-hydroxo single sites, where NO2 is adsorbed through combined dispersive- and metal-bonding interactions.
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