Rapid electrochemical synthesis of HKUST-1 on indium tin oxide

We synthesized a HKUST-1 metal–organic framework (MOF) on indium tin oxide (ITO) using an electrodeposited Cu film. The electrodeposited Cu/ITO was used as a source of Cu ions, which were linked with benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid on the ITO surface to form HKUST-1. Synthesized HKUST-1/ITO was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which showed that the morphology of the HKUST-1 framework was nearly octahedral. Our results also revealed that the growth of HKUST-1 depended on the potential and synthesis time used. This method can be applied to fabricate ordered patterns of HKUST-1 on ITO substrates, offering a new way to grow MOFs on many other kinds of conductive substrates.