Extraordinarily Persistent Zero Linear Compressibility in Metal-Organic Framework MIL-122(In)

Because of its rare linear stability, material with zero linear compression (ZLC) is active in many complicated environments. But it is generally difficult to acquire a single material with ZLC behavior. Herein, we reported a rare ZLC over a huge pressure range (1 atm to 10.5 GPa) in MIL-122(In) material along its a-axis direction. High-pressure angle-dispersive X-ray powder diffraction experiments revealed its structure changes under increasing hydrostatic pressure. Density functional theory calculations confirmed that the ZLC in MIL-122(In) resulted from the unconventional mechanical response of the rhombohedral wine-rack frameworks. Our work provided a new instance of the ZLC material in a large pressure range and demonstrated that the naturally soft materials, metal-organic frameworks, can also exhibit persistent pressure resistance.