'Seeding' the next generation of smart materials

'Seeding' the next generation of smart materials: MOFs consist of well-ordered ultra-porous crystals which form multi-dimensional structures with enormous surface areas. One gram of the material can have the surface area of more than three football fields...
“We have discovered that the MOF crystals grow in a completely ordered and predictable way once we introduce ceramic spherical microparticles – known as seeds – into the MOF solution. In effect the seeds ‘fix’ the MOF crystals to the surface. So by controlling the placement of the seeds we can control how and where the MOFs grow – even on complex three-dimensional surfaces...
“For example, we have found that we can add nanoparticles to the seed which make MOF magnetic, luminescent, catalytic, photochromic – all without compromising the quality of the MOF structure. In effect we have developed a new class of adaptive MOF composites made up of a functional core surrounded by an ultra-porous framework.”