Application-led, online analysis of flow synthesised Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs)
Application-led, online analysis of flow synthesised Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs)
Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) have numerous important large-scale industrial applications such as gas storage, energy storage, and water purification and remediation. The prospect of industrial usage means there is a need to develop efficient processes for scalable quality-assured MOF production. Flow reactors offer a promising route to scalable MOF synthesis. They feature high space-time-yields, easy automation and reduced manual handling, however quality assurance is challenging: the standard MOF analysis methods (X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, gas adsorption etc.) are slow, costly, and manually intensive, and hence difficult to apply to production scenarios. Here we present an alternative approach to MOF analysis that is quick, easily automated, and can be implemented into flow reactors for continuous assessment of flow-synthesised MOFs. Rather than look to the standard MOF characterisation methods, we developed an “application-led” quantitative test that mimicked an example end application – water remediation – by testing how well the reaction product could remove an organic dye from solution. The method was integrated into a flow reactor making HKUST-1 MOF and used to continuously monitor the reactor output (0.67 Hz frequency) in near real-time (22.4 min lag). It could clearly differentiate product made under different reaction conditions (most notably reaction stoichiometry) with the amount of dye removed corresponding to the composition of the product (HKUST-1 versus unwanted side-product). The product could be assessed “on-the-fly”, with changes in product continuously tracked as reaction conditions were systematically altered. This work will be a starting point for other application-led online analysis methods and, if combined with computer-controlled flow reactors opens the way to rapid automated exploration of MOF reaction space.
31153-31160
Nightingale, Adrian
4b51311d-c6c3-40d5-a13f-ab8917031ab3
Bradshaw, Darren
7677b11e-1961-447e-b9ba-4847a74bd4dd
Clark, Molly Jane
f8dc735f-3442-45a2-a989-fcea4c6ac755
Rainer, Daniel N.
ece5513b-0f92-4143-bddd-a4ae2802ae6d
Coles, Simon J.
3116f58b-c30c-48cf-bdd5-397d1c1fecf8
Yang, Josiah
52c39204-f5cc-4357-87b6-1fa7e554e542
Nightingale, Adrian
4b51311d-c6c3-40d5-a13f-ab8917031ab3
Bradshaw, Darren
7677b11e-1961-447e-b9ba-4847a74bd4dd
Clark, Molly Jane
f8dc735f-3442-45a2-a989-fcea4c6ac755
Rainer, Daniel N.
ece5513b-0f92-4143-bddd-a4ae2802ae6d
Coles, Simon J.
3116f58b-c30c-48cf-bdd5-397d1c1fecf8
Yang, Josiah
52c39204-f5cc-4357-87b6-1fa7e554e542
Nightingale, Adrian, Bradshaw, Darren, Clark, Molly Jane, Rainer, Daniel N., Coles, Simon J. and Yang, Josiah
(2026)
Application-led, online analysis of flow synthesised Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs).
Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 14 (46), .
(doi:10.1039/D6TA03191A).
Abstract
Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) have numerous important large-scale industrial applications such as gas storage, energy storage, and water purification and remediation. The prospect of industrial usage means there is a need to develop efficient processes for scalable quality-assured MOF production. Flow reactors offer a promising route to scalable MOF synthesis. They feature high space-time-yields, easy automation and reduced manual handling, however quality assurance is challenging: the standard MOF analysis methods (X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, gas adsorption etc.) are slow, costly, and manually intensive, and hence difficult to apply to production scenarios. Here we present an alternative approach to MOF analysis that is quick, easily automated, and can be implemented into flow reactors for continuous assessment of flow-synthesised MOFs. Rather than look to the standard MOF characterisation methods, we developed an “application-led” quantitative test that mimicked an example end application – water remediation – by testing how well the reaction product could remove an organic dye from solution. The method was integrated into a flow reactor making HKUST-1 MOF and used to continuously monitor the reactor output (0.67 Hz frequency) in near real-time (22.4 min lag). It could clearly differentiate product made under different reaction conditions (most notably reaction stoichiometry) with the amount of dye removed corresponding to the composition of the product (HKUST-1 versus unwanted side-product). The product could be assessed “on-the-fly”, with changes in product continuously tracked as reaction conditions were systematically altered. This work will be a starting point for other application-led online analysis methods and, if combined with computer-controlled flow reactors opens the way to rapid automated exploration of MOF reaction space.
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Accepted/In Press date: 20 June 2026
e-pub ahead of print date: 23 June 2026
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Publisher Copyright:
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2026.
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 512712
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/512712
ISSN: 2050-7488
PURE UUID: caeb0f57-7695-4b28-a32b-666044b2de03
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Date deposited: 21 Jul 2026 16:35
Last modified: 15 Aug 2026 03:46
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Author:
Molly Jane Clark
Author:
Daniel N. Rainer
Author:
Josiah Yang
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