Enhancing Proton Conduction in a Metal–Organic Framework by Isomorphous Ligand Replacement

Abstract
Using the concept of isomorphous replacement applied to entire ligands, a C3-symmetric trisulfonate ligand was substituted with a C3-symmetric tris(hydrogen phosphonate) ligand in a proton conducting metal–organic framework (MOF). The resulting material, PCMOF21/2, has its proton conduction raised 1.5 orders of magnitude compared to the parent material, to 2.1 × 10–2 S cm–1 at 90% relative humidity and 85 °C, while maintaining the parent MOF structure.