Aligning Chemical Kinetics with Crystallization Enables Millimeter-Scale Single Crystals of Conductive MOFs
Conductive metal-organic frameworks (c-MOFs) are promising functional materials, yet their atomic-level clarity remains obscured by the limited size of available single crystals (typically <10 μm). We demonstrate that the kinetic mismatch between redox-coordination processes and crystal growth is the underlying obstacle, and propose a general strategy to reduce this mismatch by balancing the ligand acid-base equilibrium to control the redox-coordination kinetics. This kinetic aligning strategy enables the growth of single crystals up to over 1 mm in seven c-MOFs, and reveals three new crystal structures with distinct electronic properties. Single-crystal devices demonstrate record-high intrinsic electron-proton dual conductivity among porous MOFs. This work establishes both a fundamental framework and a practical strategy for growing c-MOF single crystals and designing materials that integrate electronic and protonic transport.
Authors
- B G Jiang
- Chao Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8599-9340)
- Zeyue Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0063-5206)
- Yu‐Qing Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3727-565X)
- Junliang Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4074-0962)
- Jin‐Hu Dou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6920-9051)
- Carl K. Brozek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8014-7904)
- Tianyang Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3142-8176)
- Weishan Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7914-2700)
- Ze‐Fan Yao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5590-0768)
- Lei Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8467-6750)
- Yunlong Fan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2647-9609)
- He Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5143-1690)
- Jian Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2221-2285)
- Li Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8142-403X)
- Haoyang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6937-7936)
- Liu S (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6570-2812)
- Luming Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6207-9963)
- T Zhao
- Jinkun Guo
- Hao Chen
Institutions
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- Westlake University (CN)
- Scientific Research Institute of Introscopy (RU)
- Institute of Spectroscopy (RU)
- Ministry of Education (IR)
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (CN)
- Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CN)
- National Institute of Research and Development for Electrochemistry and Condensed (RO)
- Beijing Advanced Sciences and Innovation Center (CN)
- Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences (DE)
- Nanjing University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Published
- 2026-06-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6c07951
- Primary Topic
- Metal-Organic Frameworks: Synthesis and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Peking University
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities