Trimodal\nHierarchical Porous Metal–Organic\nFrameworks with Tunable Mesoporous Core–Shell Architectures

Abstract

The synthesis of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs)\nwith a\ndefined multimodal porous structure is still challenging in synthetic\nmethodology. Herein, we report a cotemplating strategy to synthesize\nhierarchical Ce-based MOFs with tunable dual-mesopores and core–shell\narchitectures using the diblock copolymer poly(ethylene oxide-<i>b</i>-caprolactone) (PEO-<i>b</i>-PCL) and the poly(ethylene\noxide-<i>b</i>-propylene oxide-<i>b</i>-ethylene\noxide) (F127) as soft templates. The resultant MOFs possess high surface\nareas and two sets of uniform mesopores with diameters of ∼9.5\nand 24 nm contributed by F127 and PEO-<i>b</i>-PCL, respectively.\nThe thickness of the shell can be simply tuned by adjusting the feed\nratio of two templates and changing the polarity of the synthesis\nsystem. This facile cotemplating assembly approach is expected to\noffer new opportunities in exploring the design of MOFs with sophisticated\nmultimodal mesostructures for various applications.