Rust-Mediated Continuous Assembly of Metal-Phenolic Networks

Abstract

The use of natural compounds for preparing hybrid molecular films-such as surface coatings made from metal-phenolic networks (MPNs)-is of interest in areas ranging from catalysis and separations to biomedicine. However, to date, the film growth of MPNs has been observed to proceed in discrete steps (≈10 nm per step) where the coordination-driven interfacial assembly ceases beyond a finite time (≈1 min). Here, it is demonstrated that the assembly process for MPNs can be modulated from discrete to continuous by utilizing solid-state reactants (i.e., rusted iron objects). Gallic acid etches iron from rust and produces chelate complexes in solution that continuously assemble at the interface of ..