Descripción del proyecto
Metal-organic frameworks, MOFs, are porous organic-inorganic hybrid materials that hold the potential for developing new
technologies to tackle some of the pressing global challenges such as pollution, climate change and energy crisis. Their typical low
mass densities, high internal surface area, large pore volumes and facile chemistry makes them suitable for application in gas storage,
filtration, extraction, catalysis and so on. Some MOFs are known to show a substantial degree of structural flexibility wherein the
framework reversibly expands/contracts when subjected to external stimuli like pressure/heat/light or during absorption/desorption.
This structural flexibility, if fully understood, can be used to enable the technological development of MOF-based recyclable filters,
switchable catalysts, threshold sensors, stimulus-induced drug delivery systems with integrated key-lock functionality, compressible
gas tanks and so on. However, the origin of this flexibility has not yet been sufficiently understood to enable the rational design of
flexible MOFs. This research project aims to provide a conceptual understanding on the origin of this flexibility at the atomic regime
by analysing all unique building units, topologies, and frameworks of all published MOFs to design a universally robust metric for
predicting flexibility and mechanical properties of MOFs with the overarching goal of providing a theoretical methodology for the
crystal engineering of flexible MOFs.