Advances and Application Prospect on Photoresponsive Metal-organic Frameworks

With the rapid development of smart materials, photoresponsive metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) has attracted extensive attention of researchers. Under the alternating irradiation of ultraviolet and visible light, photoresponsive MOFs can be reversibly switched between different morphologies, accompanied by changes in physical and chemical properties, which have broad development prospect in the fields of drug transport, gas separation, photo-controlled catalysis and smart sensing. Most of the photoresponsive MOFs are formed by the coordination of photoresponsive ligands and metal ions. Different photoresponsive ligands make the systems have unique properties and application scenarios. In this article, the recent research progress of photoresponsive MOFs is reviewed, including the main types of photoresponsive MOFs and their applications in different fields such as gas separation, material transport, dynamic anti-counterfeiting, and optoelectronic devices. Finally, the future development of photoresponsive MOFs is prospected. © 2023 Chines Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.