Self-Assembly of Amphiphilic Metal-Organic Polyhedra for Membrane applications

Metal-organic polyhedra (MOPs) are discrete molecular capsules formed by coordination of metal ion and organic linkers. They possess a nanoscale cavity which can have potential applications in gas storage, separations, drug delivery or sensing. To enhance their usage for practical purposes, these materials need to be translated into membranes. MOP-polymer composites where MOPs are blended with easily processable and mechanically strong polymers serve as a solution. However, there are shortcomings of this process such as integration and integrity of MOPs in the membrane, which can affect selectivity of gas separations. In this project MOPs with both polar and non-polar linkers would be synthesized which show amphiphile-like self-assembly and would be used for making composites. The amphiphilic MOP aggregates would have better integration with the amphiphilic polymers which are commonly used for preparing the membranes. These MOP aggregates, being bigger in size, shall not be easily entombed by the polymer and should result in membranes with high MOP loading and selectivity.

Faculty Supervisor:

George Shimizu

Student:

Partner:

Beijing University of Technology

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Environmental Science and Technology; Energy and Utilities; Nanotechnology

University:

University of Calgary

Program: