Ultrasound and solvothermal synthesis of a new urea-based metal-organic framework as a precursor for fabrication of cadmium(II) oxide nanostructures

Dramatic advances in nanostructured MOFs have been strongly promoted by the introduction and development of new synthetic methods that control the size, morphology, and nano/microstructure. High intensity ultrasound method suggests an environmentally friendly, facile and versatile synthetic method to these nanostructured materials that are complicated to synthesize by commonly used methods. Both Solvothermal and sonochemical methods were used to synthesize the new urea-based metal-organic framework [Cd(L1)(DMF)3] (1). Compound 1 was structurally characterized by using X-ray crystallography and spectroscopically by different techniques. The effect of concentration of the initial reagents, time of sonication and sonication power on size and mor- phology has been studied. The results indicate that decreasing concentration of initial reagents, along with increasing ultrasonic radiation time, cause a dramatic effect on the size and morphology of compound 1. Calcination of the nano-sized plate-like particles of compound 1 at 550 °C under air atmosphere yields CdO nanoparticles.