Research Areas
The long-term research goals of the So Lab are three-fold: (i) to understand energy and charge transport pathways and behavior, (ii) to elucidate mechanisms and kinetics at interfaces of inorganic-organic interfaces, and (iii) to discover new metal-organic coordinated assemblies. We will probe morphological, structural, optical, photophysical, electrochemical, and optoelectronic property to better elucidate the physico-chemical behavior of self-assembled nanomaterials. The resulting work will add insight to the criteria needed to rationally design multi-functional nanomaterials for energy conversion, electronics, and water purification.
Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) for Sustainability
As you can see from the name, MOFs are built from two different components - the first being metals and the second are the organic building blocks. You can mix and match metal and organic building blocks, like a kid at a LEGO store. We like to compare MOFs to programmable nanosponges - programmable because instead of focusing on single elements on the periodic table (like carbon), the entire periodic table is open for making and modifying MOFs. MOFs are like nanosponges because they have so many pores. In fact, one tablespoon of MOF powders is so porous that if you lay them out flat, they have the internal surface area of a standard sized football field!
One potential application for conductive high surface area materials is lithium ion batteries that you’re using in your laptops or cell phones everyday. If we can make a solid electrolyte that lets lithium ions walk through fast, you get a renewable battery with high power density. Another application of high surface area MOFs is water filters; since MOFs have tiny pores that block out many large impurities, they can soak up toxic heavy metals (like mercury and lead) or carcinogenic compounds, which leads to birth defects, organic damage, and cancer. The MOF filters can be reused several times. If scaled up, the new material can provide much-needed help to nearly 1 billion people who are unable to access clean drinking water globally.
We use a three stage process in MOF research - synthesis, characterization, and evaluation. In the first stage, MOFs are synthesized from a process called self-assembly - that means mixing the metals and organic building blocks in one pot and then programming them such that the building blocks find each other in a specific fashion to get one product in almost 100% yield. In the second stage, we can use powder x-ray diffraction technique to solve the structure, followed by infrared and Raman spectroscopies to determine the organic groups in the MOFs, and finally elemental analysis to confirm the metal ions (or clusters) in the MOFs. In the third stage, we evaluate the MOFs, depending on which application we’re targeting. For instance, we put MOFs into contaminated solutions of carcinogenic dyes, and then use UV-vis absorption spectroscopy to determine how much dye is being removed by the MOF. We can also transform these loose MOF powders into pellets by applying over 2 tons of pressure so we can do conductivity measurements on the MOFs to evaluate their conductivity. See related work here.
The long-term research goals of the So Lab are three-fold: (i) to understand energy and charge transport pathways and behavior, (ii) to elucidate mechanisms and kinetics at interfaces of inorganic-organic interfaces, and (iii) to discover new metal-organic coordinated assemblies. We will probe morphological, structural, optical, photophysical, electrochemical, and optoelectronic property to better elucidate the physico-chemical behavior of self-assembled nanomaterials. The resulting work will add insight to the criteria needed to rationally design multi-functional nanomaterials for energy conversion, electronics, and water purification.
Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) for Sustainability
As you can see from the name, MOFs are built from two different components - the first being metals and the second are the organic building blocks. You can mix and match metal and organic building blocks, like a kid at a LEGO store. We like to compare MOFs to programmable nanosponges - programmable because instead of focusing on single elements on the periodic table (like carbon), the entire periodic table is open for making and modifying MOFs. MOFs are like nanosponges because they have so many pores. In fact, one tablespoon of MOF powders is so porous that if you lay them out flat, they have the internal surface area of a standard sized football field!
One potential application for conductive high surface area materials is lithium ion batteries that you’re using in your laptops or cell phones everyday. If we can make a solid electrolyte that lets lithium ions walk through fast, you get a renewable battery with high power density. Another application of high surface area MOFs is water filters; since MOFs have tiny pores that block out many large impurities, they can soak up toxic heavy metals (like mercury and lead) or carcinogenic compounds, which leads to birth defects, organic damage, and cancer. The MOF filters can be reused several times. If scaled up, the new material can provide much-needed help to nearly 1 billion people who are unable to access clean drinking water globally.
We use a three stage process in MOF research - synthesis, characterization, and evaluation. In the first stage, MOFs are synthesized from a process called self-assembly - that means mixing the metals and organic building blocks in one pot and then programming them such that the building blocks find each other in a specific fashion to get one product in almost 100% yield. In the second stage, we can use powder x-ray diffraction technique to solve the structure, followed by infrared and Raman spectroscopies to determine the organic groups in the MOFs, and finally elemental analysis to confirm the metal ions (or clusters) in the MOFs. In the third stage, we evaluate the MOFs, depending on which application we’re targeting. For instance, we put MOFs into contaminated solutions of carcinogenic dyes, and then use UV-vis absorption spectroscopy to determine how much dye is being removed by the MOF. We can also transform these loose MOF powders into pellets by applying over 2 tons of pressure so we can do conductivity measurements on the MOFs to evaluate their conductivity. See related work here.
