Effects of polyvinylidene fluoride content in the synthesis of novel zinc-based metal-organic frameworks polymer composite crystals

Abstract A simply method to fabricate novel Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs)-polymer composite crystals with different morphologies was proposed firstly in the present study which were prepared via polymer-aid solvothermal (PAS) method by using commercially available polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) powder. The as-synthesized Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework 8 (ZIF-8)-PVDF composite crystals (ZIF-8-PVDF) were investigated systematically using different PVDF contents in the reaction solution. The results showed that the composite crystal transformed gradually from dodecahedron morphology with micropores to a hexagonal plate shape with the pores ranged in mesoporous scale. Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) adsorption capacity was evaluated and demonstrated that the increasing PVDF content has a significant contribution to the molecular adsorption performances of the composite crystals accompanied with decreased specific surface area.