Highly efficient proton conduction in the metal-organic framework material MFM-300(Cr).SO4(H3O)2

The development of materials showing rapid proton conduction with a low activation energy and stable performance over a wide temperature range is an important and challenging line of research. Here we report by confinement of sulfuric acid within porous MFM-300(Cr) to give MFM-300(Cr)-SO4(H3O)2, which exhibits a record-low activation energy of 0.04 eV, resulting in stable proton conductivity between 25 and 80 °C of >10-2 S·cm-1. In situ synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction (SXPD), neutron powder diffraction (NPD), quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation reveal the pathways of proton transport and the molecular mechanism of proton diffusion within the pores. Confined sulfuric acid species together with adsorbed water molecules play a critical role in promoting the proton transfer through this robust network to afford a material in which proton conductivity is almost temperature-independent.