Event date:
Oct 20 2022 7:00 pm

CCEW-14: Smart and Programmable Crystalline Sponges for Protection: From Bench to Market

Speaker(s)
Professor Omar Farha, Northwestern University
Venue
ZOOM
Abstract
Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are a class of porous, crystalline materials composed of metal-based nodes and organic ligands that self-assemble into multi-dimensional lattices. In contrast to conventional porous materials such as zeolites and activated carbon, an abundantly diverse set of molecular building blocks allows for the realization of MOFs with a broad range of properties. We have developed an extensive understanding of how the physical architecture and chemical properties of MOFs affect material performance in applications such as catalytic activity for chemical warfare agent detoxification. This talk will focus on MOFs for hydrolysis from solution-phase to solid-state reactivity. Moving MOFs from bench to market within industrial sectors will be discussed as well.

Omar Farha is the Charles E and Emma H. Morrison Professor in Chemistry at Northwestern University. His research seeks to solve exciting problems in chemistry and materials science ranging from energy and environment related applications to challenges in national defense by employing atomically precise functional materials.  By exploiting the modular nature of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and porous organic polymers (POPs), we work to fundamentally understand the role of three-dimensional architecture in modifying a material’s function for applications in gas storage and separation, catalysis, water remediation and detoxification of chemical warfare agent simulants.