Novel Hybrid Materials for Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage

Energy and environment are among the most important issues nowadays.

The purpose of this research project is to develop novel hybrid materials, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), for renewable energy conversion and storage. The electroactivity and stability of catalysts are the keys to achieve high efficiency. I therefore propose a new concept of multivariant conductive MOFs (MTV-cMOFs), to tailor these functions.

We will also study the atomic structures, growth mechanism and electrocatalytic reaction mechanism of the novel materials.

The new materials will significantly contribute to a wide scope of electrochemical applications, such as oxygen reduction reaction, oxygen evolution reaction for metal-air batteries.

The concept of MTV-cMOF is expected to provide new possibilities for designing other types of novel materials to solve energy and environmental problems of our society.

This project will also fundamentally advance our knowledge on chemistry and material science through the new understanding on crystal growth and electrocatalytic reaction mechanisms.

This project will be implemented in 4-years: 2-years for the design and synthesis of MTV-cMOF and the study of crystal growth mechanism, and another 2-years for the application and catalytic mechanism studies.