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Traditional metal-organic-frameworks (MOFs) have been extensively studied and applied in various fields across chemistry, biology and engineering in the past decades. Recently, a family of emerging MOF liquids and glasses have gained ever-growing research interests owing to the fascinating phase transition and their unique functions. Till now, a growing number of MOF crystals are capable of transforming into liquid and glassy states by external stimuli, which breaks the limitations of MOF crystals by introducing functional disorder in a controlled manner and offering some desirable properties. This review is dedicated to compiling recent advances in the fundamental understanding of the phase and structure evolution during crystal melting and glass formation in an effort order to give insights into the underlying conversion mechanism. Benefiting from the disordered metal-ligand arrangement and free grain boundary, various functional properties of liquid and glassy MOFs including porosity, ionic conductivity, and optical/mechanical properties are detailedly summarized and evaluated, accompanied with the structure-property correlation. At the same time, their potential applications are further assessed from a developmental perspective according to their unique functions. Finally, we summarize the current progress on the development of liquid/glassy MOFs and point out the serious challenges as well as the potential solutions. This work provides perspectives on the functional applications of liquid/glassy MOFs and highlights the future research directions for advancement in MOF liquids and glasses.
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