Stefania Grecea - Designed synthesis of metal-organic composites and their application in molecular separations

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is a class of porous hybrid inorganic-organic materials, consisting of metal ions or clusters of metal ions bridged by organic likers. Their inherent properties, including high surface area, various compositions and porous networks together with their tuneable functionalities make them attractive candidates for a range of applications, including molecular storage and separation, chemical sensing as well as catalysis. Related to molecular separations, a key challenge is to separate water and alcohols, especially methanol and ethanol, because they have very similar chemical properties, e.g. the molecular size and polarity. Therefore, it is very difficult to distinguish such small differences, even with appropriate pore size and functionality of well-designed MOFs. Water stability of MOFs is another significant property when considering their potential application in water-alcohol separations. For instance, carboxylate-based MOFs usually lack water stability because the metal-carboxylate bond can undergo hydrolysis in the presence of water. In this presentation, I will discuss some synthetic strategies used to overcome the main challenges related to the application of MOFs in water-alcohol separations.