AMADEus Seminar - Dr. Cara Doherty - Thursday 20 october 2016 - 9:30 am ICMCB (Amphi)

Abstract: Advanced porous materials are integral for a variety of applications such as energy, gas separation and water purification. Incorporating these porous materials into devices for detection and sensing requires the ability to control the position of these materials through various fabrication techniques.[1-2] The additional control of the functionality within the porous frameworks enables us to fabricate multifunctional platforms (e.g. Lab-on-a-chip).

Here I will present some innovative approaches for the preparation of functional miniaturised devices.[3] I will discuss the ability to fabricate and finely tune the pore size of a variety of materials including metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), thermally rearranged polymers and mesoporous materials hence allowing them to accurately target, filter or capture desired molecules.

An emerging and complimentary analytical technique to investigate the size and distribution of micropores in these materials is Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy (PALS) which can precisely measure pore sizes and distributions under various conditions. [4] I will highlight how this technique can reveal important structure-property relationships so that the materials can be tailored for specific applications.

[1] Doherty, et al., Acc. Chem. Res., 2014, 47, 396

[2] Falcaro…, Doherty et al., Chem. Soc. Rev., 2014, 43, 5513

[3] Doherty, et al., Adv Mater., 2013, 25, 4701

[4] Park..., Doherty, et al., Nature, 2016, 532, 480