Porous Zr-coordination polymer with well-dispersed hexamer Zr-oxo clusters.

Zirconium based metal-organic frameworks featuring the highly stable hexanuclear zirconium-oxo cluster have gained increasing interest for various applications in water decontamination. The Zr cluster offers strong binding sites for various pollutants including As(V) and organic contaminants such as organophosphate pesticides. Here, we propose an alternative approach to form amorphous metal-organic structures featuring high porosity and high density of Zr6 clusters. The formed Zr clusters and their spatial arrangement in the polymer matrix are studied using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and pair distribution function analysis.