Qiang Zhang
Washington State University, WA·Chemistry
Metal-organic frameworks are crystalline sponges: metal ions linked by organic molecules into scaffolds so porous that empty space can make up most of their volume. Their properties depend heavily on which metals sit at the junctions, but chemists have struggled to place two different metals in the same framework in a controlled way.
- Fields
Chemistry
Materials Science
- Topics
metal-organic frameworks
nuclear transmutation
neutron irradiation
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Test whether neutron absorption can transmute vanadium atoms inside vanadium metal-organic frameworks into chromium, creating mixed-metal frameworks that conventional synthesis cannot readily produce.
- Determine how introducing chromium centers alters framework stability and electronic properties, given that chromium ions differ from vanadium in size, acidity and redox chemistry.
- Assess the radiation resilience of these frameworks as a function of elemental composition, structure and neutron dose, controlling activated-isotope levels through neutron flux and monitoring decay.
- Probe the coordination chemistry and structural dynamics of the frameworks while they are under neutron flux, to track how the metal environment rearranges during irradiation.
More about the research
This project tests an unconventional route to that problem, using a nuclear reaction to convert some of the metal atoms already inside a finished framework into a different element.
Why it matters
Mixed-metal porous frameworks that are hard to make by conventional chemistry could improve gas and contaminant sorbents, sensors, and catalysts. Equally practical is learning which framework compositions survive neutron bombardment, knowledge relevant to designing materials for radiation-heavy settings such as nuclear waste handling and outer space.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Tendai Gadzikwa
Kansas State University, KS·Chemistry·Early-career
Determine the molecular origins of unexpected reactivity observed within and on multifunctional metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), porous crystals with several chemical groups placed close together, using machine learning.
Carl Brozek
University of Oregon, OR·Chemistry·Early-career
Determine how nanoparticle identity shapes the structure and motion of the electrical double layer, the ion layers at a particle's surface, using vibrational sum-frequency scattering spectroscopy (VSFSS) on porous and nonporous colloids.
Virginia Montiel-Palma
Mississippi State University, MS·Chemistry·Early-career
Design heterobimetallic complexes combining a late transition metal with a group-13 metal that bind nitrogen-containing aromatic compounds and cleave their carbon–nitrogen bonds at low hydrogen pressure.
The school
Washington State University: 22 labs on PI Pages, $403M a year on research, 259 research doctorates a year.
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