(Correspondents: Lan Tian and Dong Yue) The “Materials Forum lectures were organized in Classroom 236 of School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nankai University on November 15, 2023, as part of the Academic Atmosphere Construction Initiative. Michael J. Zaworotko, Academician of the Royal Irish Academy and professor of University of Limerick, and Brian Space, AAAS Fellow and professor of North Carolina State University, were invited to give an academic presentation titled Design Construction and Theoretical Research of Advanced Functional Porous Materials. This forum was hosted by Professor Chang Ze from the NKU School of Materials Science and Engineering.
Professor Michael J. Zaworotko presented the application of Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) materials in gas separation. He first analyzed and discussed the problems and challenges faced in the field of gas separation and purification from the perspective of climate issues, and expounded how to effectively separate gases such as CO2, alkanes and alkynes. He also introduced the practical application of MOF materials in gas separation, giving us a new understanding of MOF materials.
Professor Brian Space gave us an introduction to the theoretical calculation of flexible MOF and exhibited detailed calculations on the dynamic process of MIL series flexible MOF with respiratory effect during gas adsorption. The calculation results can even simulate behavior changes of gas molecules in MOF pores under different gas pressures, and help us realize that theoretical calculations are essential to scientific research.
After his presentation, Professor Michael J. Zaworotko answered questions of related fields from the listeners.
More than 30 teachers and students from the School of Materials Science and Engineering exchanged their views at this forum.
Brief Introduction of Lecturers:
Professor Michael J. Zaworotko is mainly engaged in basic theoretical and applied research in crystal engineering. He has now published over 400 SCI research papers in top journals including Science, Nature, Nature Communication, JACS, Angew , and his research contents were cited over 42,000 times in total, with an H-index of 91. Among them, 83 papers were cited over 100 times, and the average citation count was greater than 2,500 per year (2014-2017). Professor Michael J. Zaworotko was rated by Thomson Reuters in 2011 as one of the world’s Top 20 most influential chemical scientists in the first decade of the 21st century. He was selected into Clarivate Highly Cited Chemical Researchers for three consecutive years in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Since the beginning of 2018, he has been listed as a highly cited researcher in two fields (chemistry, pharmacology and toxicology).
Professor Brian Space is a pioneer in the development and application of porous materials and interface system models, particularly the theoretical modeling of metal organic materials. His team is active in collaboration with internationally leading groups of material synthesis and characterization. In addition, his team which focuses on improving simulation has developed modern PHAST force fields for modeling material atoms. He has won numerous awards and funding from National Science Foundation of the United States (including career award), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), American Chemical Society, United States Department of Energy, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).