Structural changes in metal-organic framework materials

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Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are hybrid materials comprised of metal nodes connected via organic linkers. Systematic substitution of metal nodes and linkers, a practice known as crystal engineering, has afforded a diverse family of materials that have found potential applications in catalysis, gas sorption, separations and drug delivery. This has led to the discovery of materials with specific surface areas in excess of 5,000 m2 g-1, which are currently applied in water harvesting, CO2 separation and toxic gas storage settings. Structural transitions within the family are of great importance given (i) the requirement for thermal stability in gas sorption applications, (ii) the possibility of obtaining new functional glasses by melting and (iii) interest in barocaloric applications using MOFs which undergo phase changes near room temperature and pressure. This project will use differential scanning calorimetry in particular, combined with X-ray diffraction, pair distribution function and gas sorption measurements to investigate the phase change behaviour of a variety of MOFs, and their impact upon applications in environmental remediation, haptic, light emitting and refrigeration technologies.