Crystalline COFs: Design and Applications
A Special Issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352) belonging to the section "Hybrid and Composite Crystalline Materials".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 306
Editors
Interests: metal organic cage; covalent organic framework; adsorption and separation
Interests: organic–inorganic hybrid crystalline materials; porous single crystals; optoelectronic materials; luminescent materials
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Crystalline covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have emerged as an important class of functional materials, owing to their long-range ordered structures, precise molecular architectures, and tunable pore environments. The combination of crystallinity, permanent porosity, and structural diversity enables COFs to bridge molecular design and solid-state functionality, making them highly attractive for applications in gas storage and separation, catalysis, energy conversion and storage, sensing, and optoelectronics. Recent advances in reticular chemistry, synthetic strategies, and crystallographic techniques have significantly improved the structural resolution and functional understanding of crystalline COF materials.
This Special Issue aims to highlight recent progress in the rational design, synthesis, crystallographic characterization, and application of crystalline COF materials. Particular emphasis is placed on elucidating structure–property relationships, including the roles of framework topology, crystallinity, defects, dynamics, and host–guest interactions in determining material performance. Contributions exploring single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, electron diffraction, and in situ or operando crystallographic studies are especially encouraged.
Both original research articles and comprehensive reviews are welcome. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, COF crystal engineering, structure–function correlations, functional guest inclusion, charge and mass transport within COFs, and application-driven optimization of crystalline COFs. By bringing together interdisciplinary studies, this Special Issue seeks to provide a timely overview of crystalline COF materials and to stimulate further advances in their design and practical applications.
Dr. Chunqing Ji
Dr. Guoming Lin
Prof. Dr. Zhenyue Wu
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Crystals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- crystal engineering
- functional crystals
- reticular chemistry
- structure–function relationship
- COF
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