Investigation of the potential of MOF-derived Porous Materials

ICMUB, as the sole unit within the Scientific Area of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté primarily affiliated with "CNRS CHIMIE" institute, is at the heart of the development and promotion of Chemical Sciences in the broadest sense, through its research and training mission. ICMUB's activities revolve around two cross-disciplinary research axes, with metal chemistry, coordination chemistry, and organometallic chemistry as a common thread.

M2 internship, starting from February 2026, for a duration of 5 to 6 month.

Doping of metal oxide systems with an additional metal has been a conclusive approach to improve and expand their performances and the extent of their applications. Recently, a novel approach is being investigated for the synthesis of metal-based systems, metal oxides, and perovskites. Indeed, the synthesis of metal oxide and perovskites by calcination of MOFs (Metal-Organic Frameworks) is gaining interest as a new synthesis pathway leading to porous and stable carbon/metal-based and metal-based systems, with inherited characteristics of the pristine MOF, such as high surface area, composition diversity, and tailored porosity (Fig. 1).^[1] MOFs are porous crystalline metal-organic compounds, known for their porosity and organized crystalline structure, and are predominantly used for gas separation and storage, and catalysis. A perovskite resulting from the calcination of a MOF may retain properties from the original MOF and notably its porosity.^[2] Additionally, MOFs can contain several metals, which makes it possible to consider the direct synthesis of perovskites from well-designed large specific area MOFs

During this internship, the student will first be acquainted with the synthesis of common MOFs. Then, their work will be to explore the possibility to synthesize multi-metallic MOFs through direct synthesis. Secondly, the obtained MOFs will be derived to ABO₃ perovskites through calcination.

References:

[1] J. Zhao, et al., Controlled porous hollow Co₃O₄ polyhedral nanocages derived from metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for toluene catalytic oxidation, Molecular Catalysis 2019, 463, 77-86.

[2] A. Shahzad, et al., Harnessing the potential of MOF-derived metal oxide composites to optimize energy efficiency in batteries and supercapacitors, J. Energy Storage 2024, 87, 111447.

Solid base in coordination chemistry are required. Knowledge related to materials chemistry and their characterization will be appreciated.

The materials obtained through solvothermal synthesis will be studied by several characterization methods including XRD, FT-IR, (BET) N₂ adsorption isotherms, TGA-DSC, Elemental Analysis, and ICP. The student will be expected to be thorough and attentive, as the synthesis of MOFs is highly dependent on the synthesis conditions.