Porous glass

Quantum mechanics

Adsorption

Phase (matter)

Engineering

Chemical physics

Chemical engineering

Fragility

Porosity

Physical chemistry

Polymer

Quenching (fluorescence)

Thermodynamics

Physics

Organic chemistry

Thermal decomposition

Glass transition

Fluorescence

Metal-organic framework

Spinodal decomposition

Andrology

Nanoporous

Medicine

Chemistry

Vitrification

Journal of the American Chemical Society

Metal-organic framework (MOF) glasses are a fascinating new class of materials, yet their prosperity has been impeded by the scarcity of known examples and limited vitrification methods. In the work described in this report, we applied synergistic stimuli of vapor hydration and thermal dehydration to introduce structural disorders in interpenetrated dia-net MOF, which facilitate the formation of stable super-cooled liquid and quenched glass. The material after stimulus has a glass transition temperature (Tg) of 560 K, far below the decomposition temperature of 695 K. When heated, the perturbed MOF enters a super-cooled liquid phase that is stable for a long period of time (>104 s), across a broad temperature range (26 K), and has a large fragility index of 83. Quenching the super-cooled liquid gives rise to porous MOF glass with maintained framework connectivity, confirmed by EXAFS and PDF analysis. This method provides a fundamentally new route to obtain glassy materials from MOFs that cannot be melted without causing decomposition.

Synergistic Stimulation of Metal–Organic Frameworks for Stable Super-cooled Liquid and Quenched Glass