Porous crystalline solids consist of secondary building units (SBUs) which assemble to form a periodic and porous framework. An almost infinite number of frameworks can be formed through various SBU combinations leading to unique material properties for applications in separations, storage, and heterogeneous catalysis.
Types of porous crystalline solids include zeolites, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and covalent organic frameworks (COFs). Zeolites are microporous, aluminosilicate minerals commonly used as commercial adsorbents. MOFs are a class of porous polymeric material, consisting of metal ions linked together by organic bridging ligands and are a new development on the interface between molecular coordination chemistry and materials science.
COFs are another class of porous polymeric materials, consisting of porous, crystalline, covalent bonds that usually have rigid structures, exceptional thermal stabilities (to temperatures up to 600 °C), are stable in water and low densities. They exhibit permanent porosity with specific surface areas surpassing those of well-known zeolites and porous silicates.