A wheel-shaped Zr-substituted phosphotungstate [{Zr(CO)} (PO)(PWO)] with tunable proton conduction properties.

A wheel-shaped Zr-substituted phosphotungstate, [N(CH)]KNaH[{Zr(CO)}(PO)(PWO)]·45HO (1), was synthesised from a hexavacant Dawson-type precursor [HPWO] a conventional solution method. Compound 1 features a wheel-shaped polyanion comprising an annular [PWO] cluster supported by a turbine-shaped [{Zr(CO)}(PO)] fragment, with three oxalate groups covalently anchored to W atoms. Compound 1 was systematically characterized by IR, UV, PXRD, TGA and P NMR spectra. The P NMR spectra over time were monitored to verify the stability of 1 in aqueous solution. This compound possesses remarkable proton conductive behavior with a high conductivity of 1.18 × 10 S cm at 368 K.