1000-fold enhancement in proton conductivity of a MOF using post-synthetically anchored proton transporters

摘要

Pyridinol, a coordinating zwitter-ionic species serves as stoichiometrically loadable and non-leachable proton carrier. The partial replacement of the pyridinol by stronger hydrogen bonding, coordinating guest, ethylene glycol (EG), offers 1000-fold enhancement in conductivity (10⁻⁶ to 10⁻³ Scm⁻¹) with record low activation energy (0.11 eV). Atomic modeling coupled with ¹³C-SSNMR provides insights into the potential proton conduction pathway functionalized with post-synthetically anchored dynamic proton transporting EG moieties.