Highly conductive 2D metal-organic framework thin film fabricated by liquid-liquid interfacial reaction using one-pot synthesized benzenehexathiol.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOF) are studied extensively in applications like catalysts, gas storage and sensors due to their various functional groups and porous structures. Two-dimensional (2D) MOFs such as triphenylene-based materials show excellent charge transport properties but thin film fabrication and organic ligand synthesis are difficult. In this work, we synthesize thiol-based organic ligand, benzenehexathiol (BHT), by a simple one-pot reaction. This facile method is safer and faster than conventional synthesis procedure that requires using liquid ammonia as solvent. We also fabricate two novel 2D MOF materials by coordinating BHT either with Ag or Au ions using liquid-liquid interfacial reaction to obtain Ag3 BHT2 and Au3 BHT2 respectively. The Ag3 BHT2 thin film reaches high electrical conductivity of 363 Scm-1 , which has potential applications in electronic devices and sensors.