Final Report Summary - NEWMATS (New Directions in Hybrid Inorganic-Organic Framework Materials)
The NEWMATS project focused on an important new class of materials known as Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs). Most of the work in this field over the last 15 years has involved the study of porous MOFs and their potential applications in areas such as gas storage, separations, catalysis and drug delivery. Our focus has been primarily on dense rather than porous MOFs, which can exhibit a wide range of
optical, magnetic, conducting and ferroelectric properties. We have made important progress in all of these areas, including the discovery of unusual combinations of properties such as ferroelectricity and magnetism (so-called multiferroics). Some of the fundamental aspects of both dense and porous MOFs have been studied in great detail, including their stability and energetics. This has led to a better understanding
of the ways in which desired MOF structures can be synthesized. We have also investigated the ease with which certain crystalline MOF materials can become amorphous and we are exploring the potential applications of this phenomenon in drug delivery and the capture and trapping of radioactive iodine. Another highlight of the work has been a detailed study of the mechanical properties of MOFs, which is of
paramount importance for any future applications of these important materials; we have published 17 papers in this area. We have also studied the way in which nanomaterial versions of MOFs can be made and we have explored their potential for making novel electrodes for lithium ion batteries and MOF/polymer membranes for gas separations.
To date, the project has yielded around 80 publications in leading international journals, several of which are now very highly cited. I believe that our work is internationally leading in the field of “Physical Properties of Metal-Organic Frameworks”, as judged by the number of special lectures that I have been invited to give and the number of awards I received during the grant period. During the last year alone, the awards have included my election to the German National Academy of Engineering (acatech) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as receipt of a Chemical Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemists and a Humboldt Research Award from Germany. I was also invited to give the Earl Muetterties Memorial Lectures in the Chemistry Department at UC Berkeley, which is one of the world’s leading centres for work on porous Metal-Organic Frameworks (with Professors Omar Yaghi and Jeffrey Long on the faculty there).
Eleven graduate students have worked on the NEWMATS project during the 66 months of funding, nine of whom have now completed their PhDs. One of my PhD students, Thomas Bennett, was awarded a £5000 international prize by PANalytical for our paper on MOF amorphisation which was published in Physical Review Letters:(http://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter/volume-21/number-3/panalytical-2012-award). In addition to PhD students, there have been ten post-doctoral researchers on the project, three of whom now hold faculty positions in Oxford, Munster, and Trivandrum.
optical, magnetic, conducting and ferroelectric properties. We have made important progress in all of these areas, including the discovery of unusual combinations of properties such as ferroelectricity and magnetism (so-called multiferroics). Some of the fundamental aspects of both dense and porous MOFs have been studied in great detail, including their stability and energetics. This has led to a better understanding
of the ways in which desired MOF structures can be synthesized. We have also investigated the ease with which certain crystalline MOF materials can become amorphous and we are exploring the potential applications of this phenomenon in drug delivery and the capture and trapping of radioactive iodine. Another highlight of the work has been a detailed study of the mechanical properties of MOFs, which is of
paramount importance for any future applications of these important materials; we have published 17 papers in this area. We have also studied the way in which nanomaterial versions of MOFs can be made and we have explored their potential for making novel electrodes for lithium ion batteries and MOF/polymer membranes for gas separations.
To date, the project has yielded around 80 publications in leading international journals, several of which are now very highly cited. I believe that our work is internationally leading in the field of “Physical Properties of Metal-Organic Frameworks”, as judged by the number of special lectures that I have been invited to give and the number of awards I received during the grant period. During the last year alone, the awards have included my election to the German National Academy of Engineering (acatech) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as receipt of a Chemical Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemists and a Humboldt Research Award from Germany. I was also invited to give the Earl Muetterties Memorial Lectures in the Chemistry Department at UC Berkeley, which is one of the world’s leading centres for work on porous Metal-Organic Frameworks (with Professors Omar Yaghi and Jeffrey Long on the faculty there).
Eleven graduate students have worked on the NEWMATS project during the 66 months of funding, nine of whom have now completed their PhDs. One of my PhD students, Thomas Bennett, was awarded a £5000 international prize by PANalytical for our paper on MOF amorphisation which was published in Physical Review Letters:(http://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter/volume-21/number-3/panalytical-2012-award). In addition to PhD students, there have been ten post-doctoral researchers on the project, three of whom now hold faculty positions in Oxford, Munster, and Trivandrum.