Engineering Applications of Flexible Framework Materials
Guest Speaker：Assoc.Prof.DAN ZHAO ，National University of Singapore
Inviter: Assoc.Prof. Zhigang Hu
Date&Time: Monday 20. May. 10:00-11:30
Venue: Yiucheng Lecture Hall (500), Xu Zuyao Building
Biography:
Prof. Dan Zhao obtained his Ph.D. degree in Inorganic Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Hong-Cai Joe Zhou at Texas A&M University in 2010. After finishing his postdoctoral training at Argonne National Laboratory, he joined the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at National University of Singapore in July 2012 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in July 2018. His research interests include advanced porous materials and hybrid membranes with applications in clean energy and environmental sustainability. He has published more than 200 papers with more than 25000 citations in international journals such as Science, Nature Materials, Nature Communications, PNAS, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Advanced Materials, etc. In addition, he serves as the deputy editor-in-chief of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, which is one of the three top journals in the chemical industry. He also serves on the editorial board of journals, such as Aggregate and Inorganic Chemistry.
https://blog.nus.edu.sg/dzhao/
Abstract:
The recent decade has witnessed the booming development of framework materials, such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs). Unlike their conventional counterparts (e.g., silica, activated carbon, zeolite), MOFs/COFs have crystalline structures, uniform yet tunable pore size, and versatile chemical compositions suitable as adsorbent materials and membrane materials for storage and separation applications. In this talk, I will introduce our group’s studies on the application of flexible framework materials for gas storage and separation. We have synthesized a series of flexible and stable MIL-53(Al) type MOFs. Their breathing behavior under high pressures of CH4 can be controlled by the systematic installation of hydrogen bonding sites into the frameworks. Such control has been fine-tuned to induce high deliverable capacities of CH4 in MOFs by changing pressure, temperature, density, and even synthetic conditions. We have also fabricated ultrathin 2D MOF membranes using exfoliated MOF nanosheets. Because of the flexibility of the MOF nanosheets, those membranes exhibit responsive gas separation behaviors under the stimuli of temperature or pressure, paving the way for the rational design of smart membranes for H2 purification and CO2 capture.