Thermally activated delayed fluorescence of a Zr-based metal-organic framework.

The first metal-organic framework exhibiting thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) was developed. The zirconium-based framework (UiO-68-dpa) uses a newly designed linker composed of a terphenyl backbone, an electron-accepting carboxyl group, and an electron-donating diphenylamine and exhibits green TADF emission with a photoluminescence quantum yield of 30% and high thermal stability.

MOF-based electronic and opto-electronic devices.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of hybrid materials with unique optical and electronic properties arising from rational self-assembly of the organic linkers and metal ions/clusters, yielding myriads of possible structural motifs. The combination of order and chemical tunability, coupled with good environmental stability of MOFs, are prompting many research groups to explore the possibility of incorporating these materials as active components in devices such as solar cells, photodetectors, radiation detectors, and chemical sensors. Although this field is only in its incipiency, many new fundamental insights relevant to integrating MOFs with such devices have already been gained. In this review, we focus our attention on the basic requirements and structural elements needed to fabricate MOF-based devices and summarize the current state of MOF research in the area of electronic, opto-electronic and sensor devices. We summarize various approaches to designing active MOFs, creation of hybrid material systems combining MOFs with other materials, and assembly and integration of MOFs with device hardware. Critical directions of future research are identified, with emphasis on achieving the desired MOF functionality in a device and establishing the structure-property relationships to identify and rationalize the factors that impact device performance.

Efficiency maximization in solar-thermochemical fuel production: challenging the concept of isothermal water splitting.

Widespread adoption of solar-thermochemical fuel production depends on its economic viability, largely driven by the efficiency of use of the available solar resource. Herein, we analyze the efficiency of two-step cycles for thermochemical hydrogen production, with emphasis on efficiency. Owing to water thermodynamics, isothermal H2 production is shown to be impractical and inefficient, irrespective of reactor design or reactive oxide properties, but an optimal temperature difference between cycle steps, for which efficiency is the highest, can be determined for a wide range of other operating parameters. A combination of well-targeted pressure and temperature swing, rather than either individually, emerges as the most efficient mode of operation of a two-step thermochemical cycle for solar fuel production.

Luminescent metal-organic frameworks.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) display a wide range of luminescent behaviors resulting from the multifaceted nature of their structure. In this critical review we discuss the origins of MOF luminosity, which include the linker, the coordinated metal ions, antenna effects, excimer and exciplex formation, and guest molecules. The literature describing these effects is comprehensively surveyed, including a categorization of each report according to the type of luminescence observed. Finally, we discuss potential applications of luminescent MOFs. This review will be of interest to researchers and synthetic chemists attempting to design luminescent MOFs, and those engaged in the extension of MOFs to applications such as chemical, biological, and radiation detection, medical imaging, and electro-optical devices (141 references).

Low-temperature magnetic circular dichroism studies of native laccase: spectroscopic evidence for exogenous ligand bridging at a trinuclear copper active site.

The detailed nature of N-3 binding at the multi-copper active site in native laccase is investigated through a combination of low-temperature magnetic circular dichroism (LTMCD) and absorption spectroscopies. This combination of techniques allows charge-transfer spectral features associated with N-3 binding to the paramagnetic type 2 Cu(II) to be differentiated from those associated with binding to the antiferromagnetically coupled, and therefore diamagnetic, binuclear type 3 Cu(II) site. Earlier absorption titration studies have indicated that N-3 binds with two different binding constants, yielding a high-affinity and a low-affinity form. The studies presented here are interpreted as strong evidence that low-affinity N-3 bridges the paramagnetic type 2 and diamagnetic type 3 binuclear Cu(II) sites in fully oxidized laccase. This assignment is further supported by features in the MCD spectrum whose intensity correlates with an EPR signal associated with uncoupled type 3 Cu(II) sites. In these sites, N-3 has displaced the endogenous bridge, thereby rendering the site paramagnetic and detectable by both LTMCD and EPR spectroscopy. High-affinity N-3 is found to bind to the paramagnetic type 2 Cu(II) site in a limited fraction of the protein molecules that contains reduced type 3 sites. Finally, the possible role of this trinuclear (type 2-type 3) Cu(II) active site in enabling the irreversible reduction of dioxygen to water is considered.