Bilayer sandwich-like membranes of metal organic frameworks-electrospun polymeric nanofibers via SiO₂ nanoparticles seeding

Supported forms of the microporous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are of great interest targeting applications in gas separation, small molecules sensing, and in heterogeneous catalysis. In the present work we report the synthesis of a novel composite architecture displaying a sandwich-like structure of MOFs materials supported on a flexible mat of electrospun polymeric nanofibers (NFbs). The newly developed system was designed by using a low-cost and scalable multistep synthesis protocol involving a combination of electrospinning and layer by layer (LBL) synthetic growth of MOFs. In order to enhance the MOFs loading, as the active element in the composite, a double-deck construct was attempted, in contrast to alternative routes where deposition of thicker MOFs layer atop the solid support were previously reported. This highly versatile approach enables construction of multi-layer structures of the same MOFs or potentially, of different MOFs targeting specific application with particular interest in multi-component gas separation and multi-functional detection systems.