Abstract
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous crystalline materials with tailorable chemistry. Their excellent properties are of interest for energy storage devices, gas adsorption and separation, catalysis, drug delivery, and many others. However, there are still many open fundamental questions about their nature and interactions with the surroundings, which could only be answered with in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) at the atomic scale. Unfortunately, due to their sensitivity to the electron beam, such studies are highly challenging or even impossible when 3-dimensional (3D) imaging is required. Here, I envision the combination of advanced TEM and dedicated 3D reconstruction algorithms as a groundbreaking new approach to reliably characterize the 3D structure of MOFs under realistic conditions. Visualizing the framework structure of MOFs, including defects and interfaces at high temperature and in a gas is extremely challenging, but will lead to a wealth of new information since deviations from a perfect structure have crucial impact on the properties. My objectives will enable the understanding at the atomic level of reasons behind thermal and moisture degradation of MOFs. My project will provide the much needed understanding of the fundamentals for better engineering of MOFs. Finally, I envision that the newly developed methodologies will also enable imaging of a broad class of nanomaterials that could not be studied by TEM so far because of beam sensitivity.
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