RUI: Exploring Synthesis, Tailoring Structure, Evaluating Properties, and Enabling Patterning of Surface-Anchored Framework Assemblies

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Professor Mary Elizabeth Anderson of the Chemistry Department at Furman University is supported by the Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry (MSN) Program of the Division of Chemistry to investigate the assembly of surface-anchored metal-organic frameworks and covalent organic frameworks. The potential for the application of these emerging materials in a wide range of technologies has led to thousands of these framework systems being synthesized, typically as microscale powders. In this project, the synthetic conditions for tailoring the assembly of these materials as nanoscale films, as well as for the chemical modification of the films post-assembly are investigated and optimized. Understanding the mechanisms of film formation is crucial for the effective fabrication of devices that harness the properties of these materials. The ultimate goal is to develop patterning methods and structural features that are necessary for the incorporation of these surface-anchored frameworks within device architectures for practical applications, such as gas storage, chemical catalysis, chemical sensing, and energy storage. The project engages undergraduate students and trains future scientists in science and technology at the interface of chemistry, material science, physics, and engineering in a research-rich undergraduate liberal arts setting at Furman University. Multiple facets of this research are integrated throughout the chemistry curriculum and incorporated as course-based student research projects.The project investigates the major chemical and physical mechanisms that direct the bottom-up solution-phase assembly of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent-organic frameworks (COFs) in thin films. The objective of this research project is to tailor and pattern the surface-anchored frameworks for integration into device architectures. Experimental conditions are explored by evaluating properties of the surface-anchored assemblies, such as film morphology and thickness, porosity, wettability, adhesion, and deformation. Central to this evaluation is characterization by atomic force microscopy, ellipsometry, contact angle goniometry, infrared and Raman spectroscopy, quartz crystal microbalance, and cyclic voltammetry. Method development is undertaken to pattern surface-anchored frameworks by nonconventional lithographic techniques, such as imprint lithography and microcontact printing. The results are expected to contribute to the fields of surface science, engineering science, nanotechnology, and material chemistry.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.