Shape uniformity control of metal–organic framework nanodisks via surfactant and substrate synergetic scissoring effects and their fluorescence sensing properties

A surfactant and substrate synergetic chemical solution technique was promoted to synthesize uniformly shaped MOF nanodisks. The hexaprismatic nanodisks of {[Eu-2(MFDA)(2)(HCOO)(2)(H2O)(6)]center dot H2O}(n) (Eu-MFDA_HND, H(2)MFDA = 9,9-dimethyl fluorene-2,7-dicarboxylic acid) were obtained on a supported substrate in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. The surfactant and substrate worked together to produce the uniform hexaprismatic shaped products, but in contrast, mixed products of defected hexaprisms and irregular nanoparticles were obtained without the substrate. Also, the dehydrated Eu-MFDA_HND crystals showed a much higher fluorescence quenching efficiency towards 2,4-DNT as compared to their corresponding bulk crystals. This effective morphology-scissoring technique may help the shape control of other functional MOF materials and benefit their application in the fields of catalysis, sensing, optoelectronic microdevices, micromechanical devices, etc.