Abstract

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) hold promise as gas separation membranes due to their tunable permeation properties enabled by the structural diversity stemming from the plethora of available metal/organic linker combinations. Although relatively rapid progress for highly selective MOF membranes has been achieved, reliable and scalable thin film processing remains a challenge. In this talk, I will discuss synthesis and post-synthesis modification methods we have been developing based on vapor phase processing and use of electron-beam-, X-ray- and plasma-induced modifications. How the structural changes caused by these modifications, revealed by various spectroscopies, affect the adsorption and diffusion properties of these films will be discussed. These methods establish a new materials processing paradigm with potential uses beyond thin film separation membranes. A new potential application of crystalline and amorphous MOF films for lithography used in the fabrication of microelectronic devices will also be presented.

Biography

Michael Tsapatsis joined Johns Hopkins in 2018 as the university’s 36th Bloomberg Distinguished Professor. He received an Engineering Diploma (1988) from the University of Patras, Greece, and MS (1991) and Ph.D. (1994) degrees from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) working with G.R. Gavalas. He was a postdoctoral fellow with M.E. Davis at Caltech (1993/94). Before joining Johns Hopkins, he was a faculty member in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota (2003-2018), where he held the Amundson Chair and the McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair. He started his academic career as a faculty member in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (1994-2003). He is the recipient of the Alpha Chi Sigma Award for Chemical Engineering Research from AIChE, the Breck Award from the International Zeolite Association, the Charles M.A. Stine Award from the Materials Engineering & Sciences Division of AIChE, a David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship, a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and a North American Membrane Society Fellowship. He was elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2011) and a member of the National Academy of Engineering (2015).