Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are a unique class of nanoporous materials comprised of metal ions/clusters and organic linking molecules that self-assemble to form crystalline networks. These materials have attracted much attention for wide variety of applications such as catalysis, gas storage, drug delivery and separation of small molecules. The wide interest in these systems arises from the fact these materials are highly tunable and thus subsequently provide the ability tune and enhance their physical properties. In this
ever-growing family of MOFs, photo-magnetic systems are highly sought after for optoelectronic applications. The latter system holds the promise to revolutionize current electronic devices and luminescent sensors.
The overall goal of this collaboration is to develop novel synthetic methodologies for the isolation of porous optoelectronic materials and study their interesting physical properties in depth and develop cutting edge
photomagnetic materials that can be commercialized. More specifically, Canadian team will focus on the synthesis of photoswitchable MOFs while the Argentinian team will focus on the synthesis of novel metalloporphyrin frameworks (MMPFs). In depth magnetic studies will be performed by the Canadian team on all isolated materials to elucidate their unique photoswitchable properties along with the magnet-like behaviour. The Argentinian team will focus on the detailed luminescence study of all isolated materials to determine their fluorescent properties but also gain insight of various electronic states of metal ions in the MOF/MMPFs materials. Through these complementary studies, we target to control the magnetic properties of
materials with light. More precisely, the spin state of the metal ions can be manipulated through specific wavelength of light thus creating a molecular switch for optoelectronic application. Due to the youth of this uOttawa – MinCyT 2017 Call for Proposals: Application Form 2 field of photoswitchable MOFs and MMPFs, the proposed research will undoubtedly yield many cutting-edge results that will have a tremendous impact on the field of molecular magnetism and lead to many new avenues of investigation.
