Pseudomorphic transformation of iron-based microporous metal-organic frameworks to mesoporous iron phosphate

Abstract

A facile pseudomorphic transformation of microporous iron-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) into mesoporous iron(III) phosphate is described. Simple soaking of MIL-100(Fe) in the phosphate buffer solution produces mesopomus FePO4, with an average pore size of similar to 10 nm as characterized by ICP, IR, Raman, XPS, PXRD and gas sorption measurements. The most remarkable feature of this MOF-mediated synthetic method is the generation of mesoporous FePO4 with a narrow pore size distribution and high pore volume under mild conditions (at near neutral pH and room temperature) while maintaining the original MOF morphology, which may find useful applications in many areas including catalysis and energy storage.