Fabrication of ultrathin films containing the metal organic framework Fe-MIL-88B-NH2 by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique

In this work, the fabrication of ultrathin films containing the metal organic framework (MOF) Fe-MIL-88B-NH2 by the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique has been explored. MOF crystals of two different sizes (1.5 +/- 0.3 and 0.07 +/- 0.01 mu m) have been synthesized and assembled at the air-liquid interface by the LB method. The effect of the subphase pH and particle size on the film formation process has been studied. Moreover, for the first time, mixed MOF + polymer (the commercial soluble polyimide Matrimid (R)) LB films containing different MOF loadings have been fabricated. These experiments show that it is possible to obtain ultrathin MOF + polymer films with a controlled MOF density. Furthermore, MOF particles are homogeneously distributed in the polymer matrix, even with very large amounts of MOF (up to 95 wt%). LB films have been incorporated into materials of different nature, including glass and mica substrates and also polymeric membranes based on polysulfone Udel (R) and PIM-1 (polymer of intrinsic microporosity), and the modification of water contact angle after LB film deposition has been analyzed. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.