ProfessorDeanna D'Alessandro

• Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs)
• Electron and energy transfer in porous organic polymers (POPs) and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)
• New materials for Carbon Dioxide Removal and Utilisation
• Technique development: solution- and solid-state electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical methods
• Fundamental and applied aspects of Mixed Valency
• Synthetic inorganic and materials chemistry

Our research spans the areas of inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry and materials science and focuses on the development of functional inorganic materials that exhibit novel electronic, optical and magnetic phenomena. Potential applications range from the capture of greenhouse gases to sensors, optoelectronics devices and photocatalysis. The key aspect is gaining an understanding of the fundamental relationships between the structural features of the solution- and solid-state materials and their physical properties.

Direct Air Capture and Carbon Dioxide Utilisation: The development of more efficient processes for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture is considered a key to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions implicated in global warming. Highly porous three-dimensional solids known as metal-organic frameworks will be developed for use as CO₂ capture materials and will be characterised using a range of techniques (X-ray and neutron diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis and gas sorption measurements). The ultimate goal is the development of industrially-viable materials that can be readily integrated into industrial processes.

Radical MOFs and Redox-Active Materials: This project involves the design and synthesis of purely organic and metal-organic frameworks that exhibit the highly sought-after property of redox-activity (i.e. electronic conductivity). The new materials will be based on "radical" ligands and mixed-valence metal clusters of Mo, W, Ru and Os, amongst others. Solid-state electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical techniques will be developed to investigate the conductivity properties. The opportunities for advances at a fundamental and applied level are immense, with potential applications ranging from sensors to molecular electronics devices.

Photo-Active Metal-Organic Frameworks: Recently, methodologies for the postsynthetic covalent functionalisation of metal-organic frameworks have opened up fascinating prospects for building complexity into the pores. This project involves the synthesis of materials as "photoswitchable molecular sieves" in which light can be used to modulate the size and polarity of the pores. Measurements on the structural and physical properties of the materials will require the development of novel techniques to probe the light-activated gas permeation properties.

Mixed Valency in "Excited" Molecules: The complex interplay between electronic and magnetic interactions is ubiquitous in chemical and physical systems (e.g., solid-state superconductors, spintronics devices) and in metalloenzymes in nature. Experimental studies in which these phenomena coexist are extremely rare. This will be addressed by developing dinuclear mixed-valence complexes which incorporate a series of bridging ligands that can mediate strong ferromagnetic coupling between metal ions with unpaired electrons. The findings will have significant implications for the experimental and theoretical understanding of systems which exhibit novel magnetic and electronic phenomena.