Surfactant-assisted synthesis of ZIF-8 nanocrystals in aqueous solution via microwave irradiation

Nanocrystals of ZIF-8 have been successfully prepared in the presence of non-ionic triblock copolymers P123 and F127 under microwave irradiation. Noticeably, the reaction time could be significantly reduced down to 1 min. The obtained ZIF-8 nanocrystals had sizes of sub-104 nm and exhibited a high BET surface area of 1599 m2 g−1. This approach is expected to be an efficient and environmentally friendly method for the preparation of ZIF-8.