Electrospun nanofibrous mats as skeletons to produce MOF membranes for the detection of explosives

The report of using electrospun nanofibrous mats as skeletons to produce self-supporting and integrated Zn-MOF membranes was described, which can be used as a new kind of porous supports for the development of MOF membranes. Thin films of Zn-MOF/PST-1 with a macroporous network structure were prepared by using electrospinning technique. The secondary growth technique was developed to strongly anchor Zn-MOF seed crystals on porous supports Zn-MOF/PST-1 to form Zn-MOF/PST-2 thin films. The MOF films of secondary growth have a good fluorescence quenching sensitivity to the nitroaromatic explosives such as dinitrotoluene (DNT), 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), and thus can be good candidates for trace nitroaromatic explosives detection.

► Thin films of Zn-MOF/PST-1 with a macroporous network structure were prepared.
► Electrospun nanofibrous mats as skeletons to produce Zn-MOF/PST-2 membranes.
► Films of secondary growth can be used for detection of nitroaromatic explosives.