Observation of early ZIF-8 crystallization stages with X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Ana Guilherme Buzanich; Anicó Kulow; Anke Kabelitz; Christian Grunewald; Robert Seidel; Ander Chapartegui-Arias; Martin Radtke; Uwe Reinholz; Franziska Emmerling; Sebastian Beyer

doi:10.1039/d0sm01356k

Observation of early ZIF-8 crystallization stages with X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Soft Matter. 2021 Jan 22;17(2):331-334. doi: 10.1039/d0sm01356k.

Affiliations

¹ Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Richard-Willstätter-Str. 11, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
² Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien and Energie, Albert-Einstein-Strasse 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany and Department of Chemistry, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Brook-Taylor-Str. 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
³ Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Richard-Willstätter-Str. 11, 12489 Berlin, Germany and School of Analytical Sciences Adlershof, Albert-Einstein-Straße 5, D-12489 Berlin, Germany.
⁴ Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Richard-Willstätter-Str. 11, 12489 Berlin, Germany and Department of Chemistry, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Brook-Taylor-Str. 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
⁵ Institute for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China. sebatsian.beyer@cuhk.edu.hk.

PMID: 33320159
DOI: 10.1039/d0sm01356k

Abstract

The present study investigates early stages of ZIF-8 crystallization up to 5 minutes post mixing of precursor solutions. Dispersive X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (DXAS) provides a refined understanding of the evolution of the coordination environment during ZIF-8 crystallization. Linear Combination Analysis (LCA) suggests tetrakis(1-methylimidazole)zinc2+ to be a suitable and stable mononuclear structure analogue for some early stage ZIF-8 intermediates. Our results pave the way for more detailed studies on physico-chemical aspects of ZIF-8 crystallization to better control tailoring ZIF-8 materials for specific applications.