Inorganic-Organic Hybrid Materials for Adsorption Applications
February 20th, 2012, SC 5326 3:00 p.m.
Krista Walton
Assistant Professor, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are inorganic-organic hybrids that represent a new direction in porous materials research. The rich field of coordination chemistry provides a versatile platform from which these materials may be assembled from an almost infinite set of building blocks. Flexible synthesis techniques could lead to the creation of designer-specific multifunctional materials for a variety of applications. One of the major barriers to using MOFs in adsorption applications is that we simply do not know enough about their adsorption properties and stability to choose a proper material (or design a new one) for a desired process. Understanding the adsorption and catalytic properties of MOFs will help narrow down the design scope and facilitate the development of functional materials to perform targeted separations and purifications. This seminar will introduce this new class of materials and discuss our current research in this emerging area. Specific discussion will center on factors contributing to water sensitivity of MOFs and on the effect of pore size, unsaturated metal sites, and functionalized ligands on the adsorption of various gases. The implications of these results for impacting adsorption applications such as separations, catalysis, and controlled storage and release will be discussed.