Table 2:

Chemical and physical characterization methods and their purpose in assessing CPs.

Technique	Purpose
Structure and Elemental Properties
Single crystal X-ray diffraction (SXRD) & powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD)	Identify crystal structure (morphology), phase purity, crystallinity, and particles size.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) & transmission electron microscopy (TEM)	Evaluate morphologies and size.
Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)	Identify functional groups and bonding type.
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) Solid state NMR (SS-NMR)	Determine purity and linker ratios, probing the local chemical environment and identify elements.
Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS)	Confirm elemental ratios, quantitatively determine cellular uptake.
Size and Surface
Dynamic light scattering (DLS)	Determine the size distribution profile in solution.
Zeta potential	Measure the effective electric charge on the surface which can change based on the surface adsorption of a biomolecule.
Thermal Gravimetric Analysis	Assess thermal stability and pore volume.
Adsorption isotherm	Determine the surface area, pore size, and pore size distribution.