May 21 2018
Similar to a Robocop, metal organic framework, or MOF, is a material that is half metal, half organic structure. Researchers have developed MOF and applied it to a number of products, such as batteries and sorbents, for electronic devices.
This is an image of the porous material studied in this paper. (Image credit: University of Cordoba)
MOFs emerged as a result of a revolution in the field of nanotechnology that completely transformed material design and helped enhance the chemical processes. They are a class of innovative organic and inorganic hybrid material formed of organic links and metallic nodes characterized by their porosity, or in other words, by the intermolecular spaces contained in it.
The focus of a recent study by Professor Rafael Luque, from the University of Cordoba Organic Chemistry Department research group FQM-383, and a Southern China Technology University research group, has been the analysis and understanding of its characteristics and applicability. The outcomes of the study have been reported in Dalton Transactions. The study has demonstrated that apart from their ability to be applied for catalysis processes - through which a chemical reaction is accelerated—the materials are designed as stabilizers of metallic nanostructures. Since their stability can be controlled, it is possible to work with these types of nanoentities.
The scope of probabilities described in Luque’s study depends on the embedded metal/metallic structure. This structure can be used for steam or CO2 absorption when working with fuel cells and other types of batteries.
The methodology that Rafael Luque and his colleagues developed is regarded to be novel since it enables material design to be controlled to an extent never imagined before. Earlier, investigations were made on these porous materials with the ability to accommodate nanoparticles. However, no one has ever mentioned the precise methodology for thoroughly controlling all the parameters and making them very pliable.
In the future, the focus of the research team would be to diversify the application of these metal-organic materials to the greatest possible extent to make the most of the pliability and stability that they offer to nanostructures. Emerging projects that are being carried out at present by the University of Cordoba research group FQM-383 will describe this line of research.