Renhao Dong receives an ERC Starting Grant of 1.5 million EUR to develop functional conjugated 2D MOFs

The European Research Council (ERC) has approved the research project "Development of Functional Conjugated Two-Dimensional Metal-Organic Frameworks (FC2DMOF)" with a prestigious and highly competitive Starting Grant of 1.5 million EUR for 5 years.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are crystalline coordination polymers that consist of metal ions connected by organic ligands, which have been highlighted for the functions in catalysis, gas storage and separation. In the past, MOFs were regarded as insulators due to the large separation of metal centers by multi-atom, insulating organic ligands, etc. Recent advances disclose that the designs of conjugated 2D MOFs (C2DMOFs) have led to improved intrinsic conductivity (up to 2500 S/cm). However, the related research remains immature due to lack of high-quality film samples, very limited structural types and elusive transport mechanism.

Dr. Renhao Dong’s ERC Starting Grant project aims to develop magnetic (semi-)conductive C2DMOFs and accomplish electronic/magnetic structure engineering for functions in electronics and spintronics. Dr. Dong and his team will design novel π-conjugated ligands to tune geometries and pore sizes of C2DMOFs, thus achieving in-plane engineering on charge and spin distribution; meanwhile, they will dedicate the development of versatile synthetic strategies towards the synthesis of highly crystalline (or single-crystalline) single-layer or few-layer C2DMOFs. By employing the developed C2DMOFs, they will explore magnetism and temperature-/magnetic/electric field-depended charge transport properties. As the key achievements, it is expected to establish novel electronic/magnetic structures and general synthesis strategies, delineation of reliable structure-transport relationships and superior device performance of C2DMOFs. This is an emerging joint research front that holds great potential for influencing the research and development in Chemistry, Materials Science and Physics.  

Since Jan. 2017, Dr. Renhao Dong has been a research group leader of organic 2D materials in the Chair of Molecular Functional Materials, TU Dresden. His current scientific interests include (1) Organic synthesis of novel pi-conjugated molecules; (2) Chemistry of 2D covalent polymers: structures and synthetic methodologies (solvothermal/interfacial/CVD methods as well as liquid-phase exfoliation); (3) Functional conjugated 2D MOFs: synthesis and functions for opto-electronics, magnetics, electrocatalysis, energy storage and sensing; (4) Organic-2D-crystal-based van der Waals heterostructures.

Website of Dr. Renhao Dong: https://tu-dresden.de/mn/chemie/mc/mc2/die-professur/gruppenleiter/dr-renhao-dong 

News for ERC Starting Grant 2019: https://erc.europa.eu/news/StG-recipients-2019