Department's Research is on Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters Department's Research is on ChemElectroChem front cover - vol.12(37)
The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (ACS) dedicates the front cover of its September issue (Volume 12, Issue 37, 2021) to research carried out in our department:
Catching the reversible formation and reactivity of surface defective sites in MOFs: an operando Ambient Pressure-NEXAFS investigation
Authors: Paola D’Angelo, Francesco Tavani e Alessandro Tofoni.
In this work, a combined experimental and theoretical investigation has allowed one to gain insights into the structural and reactive properties of the surface defective Cu(I) sites in the Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) HKUST-1.
Specifically, ambient pressure operando soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) was applied for the first time to obtain direct evidence that Cu(I) defective sites form upon temperature treatment of the powdered form of HKUST-1 at 160 °C and that they are mainly distributed on the surface of the material. Further, a thorough theoretical analysis allowed the structural characterization of the defective Cu(I) sites, where it has been demonstrated that CO2 may be reversibly adsorbed and desorbed.
These findings pave the way for a more detailed comprehension of the role played by surface defective sites in MOF reactivity.