Electrical Conductivity in a Porous, Cubic Rare-Earth Catecholate

Electrically conductive metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) provide a rare example of porous materials that can efficiently transport electrical current, a combination favorable for a variety of technological applications. The vast majority of such MOFs are highly anisotropic in both their structures and properties: only two electrically conductive MOFs reported to date exhibit cubic structures that enable isotropic charge transport. Here, we report a new family of intrinsically porous frameworks made from rare earths and hexahydroxytriphenylene that are cubic, porous, and intrinsically conductive with conductivities reaching 10−5 S/cm and surface areas of up to 780 m2/g. By expanding the list of MOFs with isotropic charge transport, these results will help improve our understanding of design strategies for porous electronic materials.