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.