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Tuning Proton Conductivity by Interstitial Guest Change in Size‐Adjustable Nanopores of a Cu I ‐MOF: A Potential Platform for Versatile Proton Carriers
Author(s) -
Khatua Sajal,
Kumar Bar Arun,
Konar Sanjit
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201601964
Subject(s) - conductivity , nitrobenzene , proton , molecule , nanopore , metal organic framework , materials science , chemical physics , nanotechnology , chemistry , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , physics , adsorption , quantum mechanics , engineering , catalysis
By exploiting the breathing behavior of nanopores, we have studied for the first time the dependency of the guest‐induced proton conductivity of an interpenetrated Cu I metal–organic framework (Cu I ‐MOF, [ 1 ]) on various guest molecules. Proton conductivities of over 10 −3 S cm −1 under humid conditions were induced by a series of guest molecules, namely N,N ‐dimethylformamide, dimethyl sulfoxide, diethylamine, 1,4‐dinitrobenzene, nitrobenzene, pyridine, and 1 H ‐1,2,4‐triazole. A detailed investigation of the guest‐incorporated complexes revealed that low‐energy proton conduction occurs under humid conditions through the Grotthuss mechanism in [ 1 ⊃NB] and through the vehicle mechanism in the rest of the complexes. Single‐point energy computations revealed considerable stabilization upon guest encapsulation. To the best of our knowledge, [ 1 ] represents the first example in which considerably high protonic conductivity is triggered upon the facile incorporation of small molecules of such a variety. The investigation portrayed herein may be a stepping stone towards the rational design of proton‐conducting materials for practical applications.