MSE PhD Prospectus Defense: Corbyn Stosich

MSE PhD Prospectus Defense: Corbyn Stosich TITLE: Tuning the Performance of Metal-Organic Frameworks by Understanding Fundamental Crystallization and Surface Science ADVISOR: Sean Lubner MSE COMMITTEE: Joerg Werner MSE; Soumendra Basu MSE; Srikanth Gopalan MSE ABSTRACT: In order to combat the climate crisis and minimize the time spent above the 1.5℃ threshold for human safety; it is imperative that our net carbon emissions reach not only zero; but be negative by 2050 [1]; [2]. To accomplish negative emissions; carbon capture via direct air capture (DAC) and point capture are necessary and on the scale of gigatons per year [3]. This process is energetically exhaustive due to the thermal energy required to regenerate carbon capture materials; and these energy demands cannot be met by global energy production [2]; [3].Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are a highly tunable class of materials that have demonstrated exciting abilities in adsorption of CO2 for point capture and primarily DAC purposes. These materials have particularly high CO2 capacity with incredibly fast kinetics. The tunable nanostructure inherent to MOFs allows for many ways to minimize the energy requirement of material regeneration. By tuning the nanostructure of these materials; we aim to optimize these variables to alleviate the energy burden of sorbent regeneration.In this work; I propose a three-aim project to explore the tunability of metal-organic frameworks to optimize their performance for DAC. I will tweak synthesis environments of otherwise identical MOF materials (Mg2-MOF-74) to study the resulting topography and morphology to fill a fundamental knowledge gap. I aim to isolate variables such as crystal length and orientation; porosity; pore percent; and surface area. I also aim to accomplish a fundamental understanding of the MOF nucleation and crystal growth to understand and reliably be able to predict crystallization results. Both of these aims will determine factors that influence the MOF’s ability to capture CO2 such as capacity; kinetics; and selectivity. I aim to also understand how they are affected with the fundamental understanding of nucleation; crystal growth; and crystal topography developed throughout my first two aims. This will be measured by TGA and our house dynamic gas sorption system.References:[1] Masson-Delmotte; Valérie; et al. "Global warming of 1.5 C." An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 (2018): 43-50.[2] Beuttler; Christoph; Louise Charles; and Jan Wurzbacher. "The role of direct air capture in mitigation of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions." Frontiers in Climate 1 (2019): 469555.[3] Nemet; Gregory F.; et al. "Negative emissions—Part 3: Innovation and upscaling." Environmental Research Letters 13.6 (2018): 063003.