Facile fabrication of Cu(II)-porphyrin MOF thin films from tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin and Cu(OH)2 nanoneedle array

•A facile method to fabricate thin films of Cu(II) tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin (CuTCPP) metal-organic frameworks (MOF).•The mechanism of Cu(OH)2 dissolution and formation of CuTCPP MOFs is investigated in detail.•Optical, thermal and porous properties of resultant CuTCPP MOFs thin films are determined.•A simple and fast method for construction of a highly oriented and well-controlled crystalline CuTCPP MOF nanofilm.•The obtained CuTCPP MOF thin film on the Cu substrate can be used for electronics device or photocatalysis application.

Herein, we report a facile synthetic protocol to grow thin films of Cu(II) tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin (CuTCPP) metal-organic frameworks (MOF) from a tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin (H2TCPP) solution and the copper hydroxide (Cu(OH)2) nanoneedle array formed on a Cu substrate at room temperature. The formations of Cu-centered TCPP ligands and crystalline platelet-like Cu MOFs were successfully probed by SEM, XRD, FTIR, UV-vis and XPS. The formation process from Cu(OH)2 was monitored by using SEM images obtained at different reaction times during the first 24 h, thus suggesting the reaction pathway of Cu(OH)2 dissolution followed by the reprecipitation of CuTCPP MOFs at a near surface. In addition, the CuTCPP MOFs exhibited a high specific surface area of 408 m2/g.

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