Growth of Metal Organic Frameworks on the Surface of Individual Cellulose Nanocrystals

Composites of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are appealing for constructing new materials with applications in catalysts, photonics, gas separation, and environmental remediation. In this paper, the growth of various MOFs on individual CNCs was investigated by varying the growth conditions to obtain a hybrid material, MOF@CNCs. While ZIF-8 and UiO-66 uniformly grew on the surface of CNCs, other common MOFs (e.g., MIL-96, MOF-808, HKUST-1, and MOF-5) exhibited irregular growth patterns. The morphology of the MOF@CNCs materials obtained depended on the metals and ligand used. Furthermore, we investigated the growth of Prussian blue (PB) on CNCs, but we were unable to realize well-defined composites with the framework attached to the surface of CNCs. These investigations are important to realize CNC@MOF composite materials where individual CNCs are functionalized with MOFs.