High-throughput synthesis and characterisation of metal-organic framework thin films for volatile compound sensing

Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) offer the possibility to tailor their nano-pore environment and capture only specific molecules, making them an ideal candidate as a receptor in gas sensors.

In order to mimic human olfaction, several receptors with different selectivity toward volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are combined in an array of sensors to form a so-called electronic nose (e-nose).

High-quality thin films of MOFs are required for their integration in these sensor arrays; however, their synthesis has proven challenging due to a large number of parameters that influence the film quality.In the LibMOF project, a high-throughput (HT) synthesis method will be developed to screen the synthesis conditions for MOF thin films.

The HT approach will be about 25-times faster than conventional synthesis and produce about 100-times less chemical waste.

In addition, with the developed method, it is possible to deposit multiple different MOF films on a single substrate, which enables the use of HT characterisation of the functional performance (dielectric properties, adsorption isotherm and diffusion measurements of volatile organic compounds, VOCs).

The synthesis conditions of the selected MOFs and their functional properties will be gathered in so-called libraries.

These libraries will also contain negative results and will be shared publicly to facilitate faster development of MOF-based electronics.

Finally, an electronic nose composed of an array of chemically-diverse MOF sensor elements will be fabricated and evaluated for sensing of complex VOC mixtures in real-world applications (targeting indoor air quality monitoring and human breath analysis for disease diagnostics).