Multifunctional Materials & Composites (MMC) Laboratory 2018 - 2016 events
2018 - 2016 Events
25 June 2018
Diamond Science Highlights
Gaining fundamental insights into the full dielectric behaviour of MOFs across the infrared and THz using synchrotron irradiation https://www.diamond.ac.uk/Science/Research/Highlights/2018/Dielectric-properties-or-MOFs.html
13 June 2018
CECAM Workshop at ParisTech
JCT was an invited speaker in the CECAM Workshop at ParisTech.
10 April 2018
CAMTEC IV held in Cambridge University
JCT gave an invited talk at CAMTEC IV held in Cambridge University: AFM Nanoindentation to Quantify the Mechanical Behaviour of Nano- and Micron-Sized Hybrid Crystals
9 February 2018
BBC Radio 4 - Science in Action Broadcast
The MMC Lab gave a demonstration on BBC Radio 4’s Science in Action programme.
You can hear the story here (18.45 on the clock).
In the interview, live in the lab, we demonstrated the self-assembly of photochemical nanomaterials for engineering smart sensors, which could be used for medical diagnostics and healthcare monitoring.
9 January 2018
MMC Lab's research on photonic MOF
Press Release - Oxford University's News website highlighting MMC Lab's research on photonic MOF sensors for smart applications.
28 November 2017
€2.4 million ERC Consolidator Grant
The MMC Lab at Oxford has been awarded the ERC Consolidator Grant worth €2.4 million to develop the exciting new field — PROMOFS: "Nanoengineering and Processing of Metal-Organic Framework Composites for Photonic Sensors"
Research will commence in April 2018.
27-28 September 2017
Matthew Ryder and Abhijeet Chaudhari
Congratulations to Matthew Ryder and Abhijeet Chaudhari for passing their DPhil viva.
Matthew Ryder defended his doctoral thesis on "Physical Phenomena in Metal-Organic Frameworks: Mechanical, Vibrational, and Dielectric Response"
Abhijeet Chaudhari defended his doctoral thesis on "Nanoscale Engineering of Guest@Host Metal-Organic Framework Materials for Optoelectronic Properties"
25 September 2017
Infrared Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Accelerator Based Sources (WIRMS 2017)
Oral and Poster presentations at WIRMS 2017: We have attended and presented our latest research at the International Workshop on Infrared Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Accelerator Based Sources (WIRMS 2017), held in Worcester College Oxford.
Kirill Titov presenting a poster about the characterisation of the dielectric properties of MOFs using synchrotron infrared specular reflectance technique, performed at Diamond beamline B22. The work has recently been accepted by The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, see more details here.
JCT giving a talk on "Understanding Core Connections Between Terahertz Dynamics and Anisotropic Elasticity of MOFs".
20 September 2017
EUROMAT-2017 Symposium on Hybrid and MOF Materials
Prof. Tan from the MMC Lab, together with Prof. Bartolomeo Civalleri (Torino), had organised a successful meeting on the topic of Hybrid and MOF Materials at EUROMAT2017.
11 August 2017
Book Chapter Published by Elsevier on "Metal–Organic Framework Based Composites"
Our book chapter on the "MOF based composite materials" has been published in Comprehensive Composite Materials II, published by Elsevier.
Editors Recommendations:
Metal-organic framework (MOF) materials constitute a new topic for the volume, helping to expand its coverage. While they are certainly not conventional metal-matrix composites (MMCs), they do represent a type of material of increasing importance, exhibiting some interesting parallels with MMCs, so this is a timely and useful contribution. These materials are in some ways composites, and they do contain metals, although they are essentially composite only on the scale of the unit cell and there is often little or no conventional metallic bonding. They are often referred to as being porous, although this is effectively molecular scale porosity. The chapter is fairly substantial, containing 34 figures and about 100 references - many of them very recent. It is an authoritative overview, covering synthesis, structure-property relationships and technological applications of this class of materials. The properties covered include a systematic assessment of mechanical characteristics, which fit well with the overall emphasis of the volume. (Many researchers involved with MOFs have a predominantly chemical background, and hence a limited appreciation of mechanical properties, so this is particularly welcome.) The chapter is well-illustrated, with the figures being clear and informative.
E.M. Mahdi and J.C. Tan*, Chapter 4.22: "Metal–Organic Framework Based Composites". In: Beaumont, P.W. R. and Zweben, C.H. (eds.), Comprehensive Composite Materials II. vol. 4, pp. 525–553. Oxford: Academic Press (2018).
PDF copy of chapter? - Please contact Prof. Tan if you wish to have an electronic offprint of this chapter for personal use.
July 2017
Two journal covers highlighting our latest discoveries
We are extremely delighted to see our research being featured on the covers of two world-leading journals in the field.
Optochemically Responsive 2D Nanosheets of a 3D Metal-Organic Framework Material.
Advanced Materials, 29 (27), (2017) 1-9.
A mechano-responsive supramolecular metal-organic framework (supraMOF) gel material rich in ZIF-8 nanoplates.
10 May 2017
Sam Attias (MEng 4YP) who has won 2 prizes
Congratulations to Sam Attias (MEng 4YP) who has won 2 prizes at the Department of Engineering's 43rd Lubbock Day, held on 10th May 2017. Sam won the BP Prize for best chemical engineering project and the Oxford Engineering Alumni Prize for best overall exhibition. He presented a poster about his MEng project on "Nanomaterials in Revolutionising Diabetes Diagnostics’".
12 April 2017
Matthew Ryder has been awarded British Zeolite Association’s (BZA) Founders' Award
Matthew has been awarded the prestigious British Zeolite Association’s (BZA) Founders' Award for the most promising postgraduate scientist working in the area of micro/mesoporous science.
24 March 2017
Mahdi Mahmoud successfully defended his DPhil thesis
Many congratulations to Mahdi Mahmoud who successfully defended his DPhil thesis today. His dissertation is on the topic of "Thermo-Mechanical Performance and Novel Applications of Mixed-Matrix Membranes Incorporating Metal-Organic Frameworks"
5 January 2017
MOF Symposium in EUROMAT-2017, Thessaloniki Greece (17-22 September 2017)
Topic B7 - Hybrid and Metal-Organic Framework Materials - The Symposium covers Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) Materials as microscopic material systems and Hybrid Materials and Structures as material combinations more on the meso- and macroscopic level.
6 October 2016
Harnessing the Power of Light in Hybrid Materials
JCT was the Plenary Speaker at the Workshop on "Harnessing the Power of Light in Hybrid Materials", held in Turin 6-7 October 2016. Download book of abstract: https://goo.gl/H1X4vn
3 October 2016
Dr Yueting Sun from Tsinghua University (Beijing) joined our group
Dr Yueting Sun from Tsinghua University (Beijing) joined our group as the "Oxford KC Wong Fellow". The project will focus on “Nanofluidic mechanical energy conversion using MOFs”, to explore the feasibility of utilising flexible framework materials for nanoscale mechanical energy dissipation and unconventional energy conversion phenomena and related nanofluidic mechanisms.
30 August 2016
Dr Irina Flyagina from Russian Academy of Sciences joined our group
Dr Irina Flyagina from Russian Academy of Sciences joined our group as PDRA in Materials Engineering. Irina's postdoctoral work is funded by the EPSRC grant EP/N014960/1 “Mixed-matrix membranes integrating metal-organic frameworks: thermo-mechanical properties and engineering performance”. She obtained her PhD (2014) in Chemical and Process Engineering from the University of Leeds, developing alternative low-cost carbon-based electrocatalysts for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. She was a Research Fellow (2015-Jul 2016) at the Russian Academy of Sciences and applied first-principles simulations to solve problems linked to mechanochemistry, adsorption-induced materials strength reduction, and inorganic host-guest suprastuctures.
21 August 2016
7th International Zeolite Membrane Meeting (IZMM2016)
JCT was a Keynote Speaker at the 7th International Zeolite Membrane Meeting (IZMM2016), held in Dalian, China, from 20-23 August 2016. The title of the talk was on “MOF-Polymer Nanocomposite Membranes: Interrogating the Underscoring Microstructure-Mechanics-Function Relationships”.
11 August 2016
Cutting-edge science at Diamond synchrotron
Cutting-edge science at Diamond synchrotron. Diamond Science Highlights (11 August 2016), read the Press Release: THz insights into MOF dynamics, using HKUST-1 as a case study
7 June 2016
Crystal engineering at its biggest and strongest
Our work has been featured on journal cover of the CrystEngComm 2016 New Talent Themed Issue: "Crystal engineering at its biggest and strongest"
Read the accompanying article: "Discovering Connections Between Terahertz Vibrations and Elasticity Underpinning the Collective Dynamics of the HKUST-1 Metal-Organic Framework" [DOI] [pdf]
13 April 2016
Dr Luke Mizzi has joined our group as a visiting scientist
Dr Luke Mizzi has joined our group as a visiting scientist for a period of 3 months. His project at Oxford is funded by the Royal Society's Commonwealth Science Conference (CSC) Mentoring Grant. His expertise concerns mechanical metamaterials, focussing on the innovative designs and computational optimisations of auxetic structures with anomalous mechanical response useful for engineering novel sensors, actuators and biomedical devices. He is a postdoc at the Metamaterials Unit in the University of Malta led by Prof. J.N. Grima.
21-23 March 2016
MMC Lab at BZA16. Abhijeet, Mahdi and Matthew presented their research
MMC Lab at BZA16. Abhijeet, Mahdi and Matthew presented their research at BZA16 and UK MOF Symposium held in Bath from 21-23 March 2016.
18 March 2016
Congratulations to Matthew Ryder
He won the best poster prize at the EPSRC TERANET Meeting held in Cambridge University.
18 March 2016
EPSRC Teranet Meeting
JCT gave an invited talk at the EPSRC Teranet Meeting held in Cambridge University. The meeting focused on recent advances in terahertz spectroscopy, see full programme.