Surface-Anchored Metal-Organic Frameworks – SURMOFs: A New Material Platform for Sensors

The application of surface-anchored metal-organic frameworks (SURMOFs) as highly porous host materials for molecules in the field of nanoplasmonic sensing (NPS) is reported. SURMOFs are grown by a layer-bylayer procedure on the surface of the NPS sensors, which consist of a quartz glass with SiO2 coated gold nanodisks. As the spectral position of the gold plasmon band depends on the refractive index of the surrounding medium, the loading of the SURMOF pores with guest molecules results in a change of the effective refractive index of the SURMOF and therefore in a spectral shift of the plasmonic band. The combination of SURMOFs that change their optical properties with loading with the method of nanoplasmonic sensing opens new fields of application in sensor technology. Here we show the proof of principle with HKUST-1 as the SURMOF material and with cyclohexane and ethanol as guest molecules.