Mechanodynamic properties of Metal-Organic Frameworks by topology, building units, and guests investigated by diffraction, scattering, sorption and more

Metal-Organic Frameworks, MOFs, are network solids with organic linkers connected by metal ions containing potential voids.

The voids are apt to various uses, and commercial applications such as products for storage of hazardous gases are on the market. But MOFs have also raised completely new scientific questions and challenged the way we think about the solid state.

We are just beginning to uncover the interplay of structure, disorder and defects with mechanic and dynamic properties, critically important to many functions.Thus our research question: How do the dynamic and mechanic properties of a MOF depend on the network topology, the architecture, linker flexibility and guest molecules?We will answer this question by preparing and investigating three MOF classes where the linkers have distinct and different possibilities of flexibility. 1: MOFs built with hexaphenylbenzene cores, 2: MOFs built with benzene-1,3,5-triyltris(oxy))tribenzoic acid, 3: vicinal carboxylate MOFs, giving access to a large range of MOFs with different architectures.Diffraction methods under varied temperature and guest state will be central, but also gas sorption methods and neutron scattering.

Combined with computational chemistry we will paint a full picture MOF behaviour.

In addition, the mechanical properties will be directly investigated by crystal cantilever bending.The end goal is to device a "mechanodynamic MOF alfabet" to enable building these functions into MOFs by design.