Energy Sciences

A new thorium metal-organic framework (MOF), Th(OBA)₂ , where OBA is 4,4'-oxybis(benzoic) acid, has been synthesized hydrothermally in the presence of a range of nitrogen-donor coordination modulators. This Th-MOF, described herein as GWMOF-13, has been characterized by single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, as well as through a range of techniques including gas sorption, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), solid-state UV/Vis and luminescence spectroscopy. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis of GWMOF-13 reveals an interesting, high symmetry (cubic Ia 3 ‾ d) structure, which yields a novel srs-a topology. Most notably, TGA analysis of GWMOF-13 reveals framework stability to 525 °C, matching the thermal stability benchmarks of the UiO-66 series MOFs and zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), and setting a new standard for thermal stability in f-block based MOFs.