Public Research Seminar by Sustainable Energy and Environment Thrust, HKUST(GZ) - Crystalline Porous Materials for Gas/Vapour Adsorption and Separation
The development of porous materials for adsorption and separation plays a vital role in energy conservation and environmental purification. Since the invention of synthetic zeolites in the 1940s, adsorption has emerged as a sustainable, low-energy alternative to distillation in industry and is essential for air and water pollution control. However, the complexity of separation systems and competitive adsorption make it challenging to design porous materials that can efficiently handle difficult or trace-level separations. Key challenges include: (1) creating specific cavities to enhance selectivity for targeted molecules, (2) increasing porosity to improve adsorption capacity while retaining selectivity, and (3) improving stability for long-term use. In the past few years, I am focusing on the development of crystalline porous materials optimized for selective adsorption and molecular separation applications. Through modular assembly and post-modification methods, precise control is achieved over essential properties such as porosity and stability to meet specific application needs. Additionally, utilizing algorithm-driven computational screening and automated synthesis techniques, the discovery of new crystalline porous materials can be accelerated. In terms of functional applications, my research emphasizes gas and vapor separation and includes mechanism study to gain a deeper understanding of material performance in these processes. These approach enables the design of next-generation materials, offering innovative solutions for sustainable energy and environmental technologies.
Dr. Donglin He received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Liverpool in 2022. Her PhD thesis was on “Imine Macrocycle Based Crystalline Solids for Gas and Vapour Separations” supervised by Professor Andrew I Cooper, FRS. After completing her Ph.D., she spent one year at the University of Glasgow working as research associate in Professor Leroy Cronin's group, where she focused on algorithm-driven robotic discovery of metal organic framework. Currently, Dr. He is a postdoctoral fellow funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) in Professor Shuhei Furukawa's group at Kyoto University. Her research topic is assembling flexible metal-organic cages for fabricating adaptive porous membranes. Dr. He has a long-standing interest in the development and application of porous materials, with a recent focus on the design and synthesis of function-driven crystalline porous materials. Over the past five years, she has published six papers as first or co-first author in top journals, including two papers in J. Am. Chem. Soc., two in Angew. Chem., Int. Ed.. She has presented posters and oral talks at several international conferences on porous materials and has actively participated in interdisciplinary collaborations across institutions and countries.
For inquiries, please contact Miss Suggi WU (+86-20-88332966, suggilswu@hkust-gz.edu.cn)