Metal-phenolic network


A metal-phenolic network is a supramolecular coordination structure which consists of metal ions and polyphenols. These materials were first reported by an Australian group at The University of Melbourne. Ejima et al. demonstrated that MPN materials can be coated on versatile substrates to form nanostructured films, and Guo et al. further expanded the toolbox of metal ions across the periodic table and demonstrated the multifunctional properties and functions of this class of materials. Unlike many other coating materials, which form covalent bonds with specific substrate molecules, MPNs adsorb to a wide variety of surfaces due to noncovalent forces. Due to their significant versatile coating and multifunctional properties, MPN-based materials has been one of the fastest growing fields in chemistry and materials science. The applications of MPN-based materials have been extended to a wide spectrum of fields, such as drug delivery, bioimaging, and biotechnology. In 2016, the same group reported the new property of MPN in the particle assembly driven by polyphenol-based modular functionalization and interfacial molecular interactions.