CAREER: Synthesis, Structures, and Properties of Crystalline Boron-Based Porous Materials

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TECHNICAL SUMMARY:The proposed research aims to develop a family of crystalline boron-imidazolate based nanoporous materials with compositional and topological features that mimic porous zeolites. These materials are unique because they are capable of integrating the advantages of coordination polymers (e.g., compositional and topological diversity) and covalent organic framework materials (e.g., lightweight). The synthetic strategy involves two major steps. The first is to create a library of boron-imidazolate molecular building blocks capable of serving as tetrahedral or trigonal vertices. These various pre-synthesized molecular building units will then be assembled with metal cations or clusters into three-dimensional infinite porous frameworks. This strategy is especially suited for the creation of ultra-light porous materials using the lightest possible elements from the periodic table (e.g., Li and B) and permits the development of materials with a variety of compositional and topological features. These crystalline porous materials will be structurally characterized and their various properties, particularly porosity and gas sorption characteristics, will be characterized to determine their application potentials in energy and environmental applications such as hydrogen storage, carbon dioxide sequestration, and selection gas separation. NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:The proposed research program aims to create a family of sponge-like porous materials for energy and environmental applications. Such materials may serve as high capacity adsorbents for on-board fuel storage or waste gas sequestration and they may also selectively trap toxic and radioactive metals for environmental remediation. The award will help the PI to design curricula and a range of research activities in solid state and materials chemistry that will provide training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, leading to publications and scholarly presentations involving these students. Because a large fraction of students in the PI's university and laboratory are from underrepresented groups, the program will broaden the participation of these students and promote diversity in solid state and materials research.