Metal ion induced porous HKUST-1 nano/microcrystals with controllable morphology and size

Porous coordination polymer HKUST-1 [Cu3(BTC)2] (H3BTC = 1,3,5-benzenetricarbocylic acid) nano/microcrystals have been fabricated by an environment friendly facile direct precipitation method at room temperature using inorganic salts such as NaNO3, NaCl, NaBr, KNO3, KCl and KBr as additives. It is found that the concentration of the inorganic salt has an important impact on the morphology and size of the HKUST-1 crystals, and their morphology changed from cube to cuboctahedron and finally to octahedron by increasing the concentration of inorganic salts. Gas adsorption measurements reveal that HKUST-1 nano/microcrystals with different morphologies show high specific surface areas, and their gas sorption properties depend on the crystal morphology and size.