Poster Presentation Royal Australian Chemical Institute National Congress 2026

Tuning the fluorescent response in Metal-Organic Framework glasses through ligand control (#229)

Kaleb L Miller 1 2 , Jingwei Hou 3 , Deanna M D'Alessandro 1
  1. School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
  2. School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
  3. School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Metal–Organic Framework (MOF) glasses are an emerging class of materials that can be produced by transforming a crystalline MOF into a glassy state via melt-quenching.1 This enables the creation of shapeable porous materials with unique properties compared to their crystalline counterparts. Zeolitic-Imidazolate Framework (ZIF) glasses are a subset of these materials, containing tetrahedral metal centres bound to imidazole-based ligands.2 ZIFs have garnered growing interest due to their thermal stability, processability, and potential applications in battery technologies and hydrocarbon separations.3

Recently, ZIF glasses have demonstrated intriguing photophysical behaviour. ZIF-62, an archetypal ZIF glass, displays broadband white-light fluorescence, which can be tuned by controlling its thermal history.4 The structure-property relationship underpinning the optical properties of MOF glasses remains poorly understood.

In this work, we demonstrate a strategy to tune the optical response of ZIF glasses through deliberate control of the organic linker composition. Using a set of ZIF-62 derived frameworks, we systematically introduce different imidazole-based linkers to form an array of analogous structures, with unique optical properties. These ligands, not previously reported in ZIF glass materials, offer a range of interesting new properties to explore and broaden our understanding of the structure-property relationships in these glassy materials. Control over the emission behaviour of the ZIF glasses was achieved through variation of the identity and percentage loading of the component ligands. 

Results provide new insights into the structure-property relationships in amorphous framework materials and expands on the design of luminescent MOF glasses, opening the pathway towards rational design of optically functional glassy framework materials.

 

  1. Bennett, T. D. et al J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138 (10), 3484-3492.
  2. Eddaoudi, M. et al Chem. Soc. Rev. 2015, 44 (1), 228-249.
  3. Frentzel-Beyme, L. et al J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141 (31), 12362-12371.
  4. Yu, S. et al Chem. Commun. 2025, 61 (71), 13405-13408.