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Updated: Jun 29, 2025

Author Spotlight: Characterizing Porous Materials for Aiding the Development of Robust Metal-Organic Frameworks with Adsorption Behavior
Published on: March 8, 2024
Three-Dimensional Visualization of Adsorption Distribution in a Single Crystalline Particle of a Metal-Organic
Emina Yamada1,2, Hirotoshi Sakamoto2,3, Hirosuke Matsui1,2
1Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602, Japan.
Abstract:
Many unique adsorption properties of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been revealed by diffraction crystallography, visualizing their vacant and guest-loaded crystal structures at the molecular scale. However, it has been challenging to see the spatial distribution of the adsorption behaviors throughout a single MOF particle in a transient equilibrium state. Here, we report three-dimensional (3D) visualization of molecular adsorption behaviors in a single crystalline particle of a MOF by in situ X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy combined with computed tomography for the first time. The 3D maps of water-coordinated Co sites in a 100 μm-scale MOF-74-Co crystal were obtained with 1 μm spatial resolution under several water vapor pressures. Through the visualization of the water vapor adsorption process, 3D spectroimaging revealed the mechanism and spatial heterogeneity of guest adsorption inside a single particle of a crystalline MOF.
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