Understanding the Electron Beam Resilience of Two-Dimensional Conjugated Metal–Organic Frameworks

Mücke, David; Cooley, Isabel; Liang, Baokun; Wang, Zhiyong; Park, SangWook; Dong, Renhao; Feng, Xinliang; Qi, Haoyuan; Besley, Elena; Kaiser, Ute

Abstract

Knowledge of the atomic structure of layer-stacked two-dimensional conjugated metal–organic frameworks (2D c-MOFs) is an essential prerequisite for establishing their structure–property correlation. For this, atomic resolution imaging is often the method of choice. In this paper, we gain a better understanding of the main properties contributing to the electron beam resilience and the achievable resolution in the high-resolution TEM images of 2D c-MOFs, which include chemical composition, density, and conductivity of the c-MOF structures. As a result, sub-angstrom resolution of 0.95 Å has been achieved for the most stable 2D c-MOF of the considered structures, Cu3(BHT) (BHT = benzenehexathiol), at an accelerating voltage of 80 kV in a spherical and chromatic aberration-corrected TEM. Complex damage mechanisms induced in Cu3(BHT) by the elastic interactions with the e-beam have been explained using detailed ab initio molecular dynamics calculations. Experimental and calculated knock-on damage thresholds are in good agreement.

Citation

Mücke, D., Cooley, I., Liang, B., Wang, Z., Park, S., Dong, R., Feng, X., Qi, H., Besley, E., & Kaiser, U. (2024). Understanding the Electron Beam Resilience of Two-Dimensional Conjugated Metal–Organic Frameworks. Nano Letters, 24(10), 3014–3020. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c04125

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 27, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Mar 1, 2024
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2024
• Deposit Date: Mar 4, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 12, 2024
• Journal: Nano Letters
• Print ISSN: 1530-6984
• Electronic ISSN: 1530-6992
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 3014–3020
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c04125
• Keywords: Chemical structure, Electrical conductivity, Imaging, Stability, Transmission electron microscopy
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/31899209
• Publisher URL: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c04125