32 researchers met for the first UK conference on Functional Dense Metal-organic Frameworks (FunDeMOF) and related materials was successfully held at the University of Kent on the 16th and 17th of April.
The Functional Dense Metal-organic Frameworks (FunDeMOF) meeting was held at the University of Kent to bring together researchers from across the UK and beyond to discuss the potential of these and related exciting materials. Dense MOFs feature metals linked by organic ligands to form extended structures but lack the large voids of the more well studied porous MOFs. As discussed during the meeting, along with other hybrid materials, this enables them to have signficant potential for use in piezoelectrics for energy harvesting, supercapacitors and batteries for energy storage, calorics for efficient heating and cooling and storage of small guest molecules such as dyes and pesticides. 32 researchers attended from across the UK, Ireland and beyond, with attendees from as far afield as China. Experts in the area concentrate on the synthesis of new functional materials and understanding the relationships between their structures and dynamics. This was complemented by attendees with materials science expertise in property characterisation of piezoelectrics, supercapacitors, caloric materials and batteries.
While somewhat related meetings have been held before on Mineralomomesis and magnetic MOFs this was the first FunDeMOF meeting. The meeting was sponsored by the Engineering and Physical Science research council; this was as part of the lead organiser’s, Dr Paul Saines, grant on developing dense MOFs and related materials as magnetocalorics whose magnetic properties enable them to be used for cryogenic cooling. Many attendees commented on enjoying the science presented at the meeting and the fruitful discussions that flowed from them, including over an informal dinner and drinks session on the evening of the 16th. Many were looking forward to another edition in the years to come. Paul commented “this was a successful 1st FunDeMOF meeting that reflects the exciting science across a new and growing community. I would like to thank all oral and poster presenters for displaying their excellent science. I would also like to thank Tom Hitchings and Chris Vijeu for their help with organising the meeting along with divisional research and innovation support and Kent’s conference office”.