(6ik) Molecule Separation and Conversion Using Novel Porous Material

Teaching Interests: Thermodynamics, transport, porous materials and applications

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a series of novel porous materials which are composed of metal centers and organic linkers through coordination bonds. MOFs usually have 3D porous structures, large surface areas and pore volume, tunable pore size and chemical composition, which provide promising future in applications in molecule separation and conversion. A potential application example is CO₂ separation using MOFs. Unsaturated metal centers have been found to be the key for low partial pressure CO₂ adsorption. A robust hydrophobic MOF membrane showed high CO₂ permeance even under 80%RH, which is close to real flue gas condition. Proposed future work is focusing on 1) Oriented asymmetric MOF membrane for molecule separation such as CO₂ separation from natural gas and bioethanol separation; 2) MOF materials as catalyst precursors used in fuel cell and other electrochemical energy storage systems; 3) Biocompatible magnetic MOFs for molecule delivery, sensing and separation. The unlimited pairs of metal centers and organic linkers, chemical versatility, and easy to tailored pore and functionality open up great opportunities for MOFs in potential energy and environment applications.