Figure 4: TGA analysis on AgZIF-62 variants in a) air and b) N2 flow
Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was performed on the AgZIF-62 variants and compared with the as-synthesised ZIF-62-a, as can be seen in Figure 4. The decomposition temperature of AgZIF-62 variants is much lower than ZIF-62-a when subjected to air, whereby the AgZIF-62 variants start to decompose at around 400oC as opposed to ZIF-62-a, which only starts to decompose at around 600 oC. However, when subjected to high temperature under N2 flow, the decomposition of AgZIF-62 variants is almost similar to ZIF-62-a and does not significantly decompose below 500 oC. As the melting of ZIF-62 is usually performed under inert gas conditions, this TGA analysis shows that the AgZIF-62 variants can be treated with temperatures up to 500 oC without triggering significant decomposition. We then continue to check the thermal and structural behaviour of AgZIF-62 variants subjected to temperature to see if there are any observational changes towards its structural melting dynamics.