Proton-conductive
materials have attracted increasing attention
because of their broad explorations in chemical sensors, water electrolysis,
fuel cells, and biological systems. Especially, metal–organic
frameworks (MOFs) have been demonstrated to be extremely promising
candidates as proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Compared
with other configurations, MOFs with one-dimensional (1D) channels
have the characteristics of enhancing the host–guest interaction
and promoting the anisotropic motion of proton carriers in restricted
volume, which are beneficial for acquiring rich proton sources and
forming successive hydrogen bonds to improve proton conductivity.
We are endeavored to screen and find a helical three-dimensional (3D)
framework InOF-1, namely, [In2(OH)2(BPTC)]·6H2O (BPTC4– = 3,3′,5,5′-biphenyl
tetracarboxylate), as a typical 1D-channel MOF, which is pristinely
grafted with spirally distributed −OH groups on the channel
surface. Accompanied by an aliovalent substitution Ni(II) for In(III),
isostructural NiOF-1 ([Ni2(BPTC)(HCOOH)2]·3H2O) is successfully prepared and massive
formic acids are anchored at interior walls, which are interacted
with adsorbed water molecules via the formation of
stronger O–H···O bonds. This interaction between
host–guest molecules and dynamics of lattice water has already
led to a remarkable conductivity of InOF-1 (σ =
7.86 × 10–3 S/cm at 328 K under 95% RH). The
synergistic effect of the acidic-modified nanowall, contracted volume,
and enhanced adsorption of water molecules in the NiOF-1 channel contributes to a high conductivity value of 3.41 ×
10–2 S/cm (at 328 K under 95% RH). Moreover, the
proton conduction mechanism is further visually presented by molecular
dynamic (MD) simulation. In contrast to InOF-1, aliovalent-substituted
and acidic-modified NiOF-1 has a stronger host–guest
interaction and more abundant hydrogen-bond networks, resulting in
shorter proton migration distances and more frequent proton hopping,
in agreement with the experimental results.