Dartmouth Events

“Hydrogenic Defects in Metal-Organic Frameworks” 

Bio: Prof. Christopher H. Hendon is a computational chemist with interests in energy materials and coffee extraction. He obtained his BSc. Adv. HONS from Monash University (2011) and PhD from the University of Bath (2015). After a two-year postdoc at Massachusetts Institute of Technology he joined the University of Oregon and is now an Associate Professor of chemistry. His research group focuses on computing the properties of defects in inorganic solids. He was named a Cottrell Scholar in 2021, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, and the Samuel R. Scholes Jnr. Lecture for excellence in Scientific Communication. Additionally, he was also named a World Coffee Leader in 2016.

Abstract: Typical metal-organic frameworks are constructed by combining organic acids with transition metals to form 3D arrays of metals/metal clusters suspended by Lewis basic organo-linkers. During this assembly, entropy drives the inclusion of defects, and these defects may have dramatic impact on the bulk material properties. Hydrogenic adatoms are particularly interesting, as they should be present due to incomplete deprotonation of the organic acids. Yet, these defects are experimentally difficult to detect. In this talk we discuss avenues to control the number of adatomic hydrogen atoms by affecting the nuclearity of the MOF nodes, highlighting a unique molecular-like property afforded to MOFs: site isolated redox events.  In systems with delocalized electronic structures, the adatomic hydrogen atoms can be used to dope the framework, affecting the Fermi level.  Together, we highlight that adatomic hydrogen is likely a prevalent defect in MOFs and may be useful for control bulk material properties.