Introduction: Metal Organic Framework

Metal organic frameworks, generally known as MOFs, are 3D crystalline porous solids, as the name suggests consist of a framework of metal ions linked by organic linkers. The era of MOFs started since late 1990s, increasing the overall usage of porous materials in various fields of interest. From that time to the present scenario, surplus work has been done on MOFs. Presently, their applications are not limited to gas/liquid separation but also in various important applications such as sensing of various analytes, and catalytic functions. During the development of various MOF materials, several challenges were faced by researchers in terms of temperature control, solvent choice, single crystals, crystal structures, biodegradability, biocompatibility, and scale-up. This book chapter discusses the need for development of various MOFs, past, present, and future aspects of the potential and challenges in the field of MOFs.