MEMS Seminar: Omar Farha (Northwestern), "Smart and Programmable Sponges: from Basic Science to Implementation and Commercialization"

Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Spring 2025 Seminar Series, welcomes Omar Farha, a professor at Northwestern, who will be giving a talk entitled, "Smart and Programmable Sponges: from Basic Science to Implementation and Commercialization."

Abstract: As chemists and materials scientists, it is our duty to synthesize and utilize materials for a multitude of applications that promote the development of society and the well-being of its citizens. Since the inception of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), researchers have proposed a variety of design strategies to rationally synthesize new MOF materials, studied their porosity and gas sorption performances, and integrated MOFs onto supports and into devices. MOFs are a class of porous, crystalline materials composed of metal-based nodes and organic ligands that self-assemble into multi-dimensional lattices. In contrast to conventional porous materials, an abundantly diverse set of molecular building blocks allows for the realization of MOFs with a broad range of properties. Efforts have explored the relevance of MOFs for applications including, but not limited to, heterogeneous catalysis, guest delivery, water capture, destruction of nerve agents, gas storage, and separation. For example, we have developed an extensive understanding of how the physical architecture and chemical properties of MOFs affect material performance in applications such as catalytic activity for chemical warfare agent detoxification. Recently, start-up companies have undertaken MOF commercialization within industrial sectors. ION-X™ is used in this talk as an example to show case the way NuMat Technologies is innovating at the intersection of molecular design and precision engineering, to build the products driving the industries of tomorrow.

BIO: Omar K. Farha is the Chair of the Chemistry Department and a Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor in Chemistry at Northwestern University, an Executive Editor for ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces and President of Numat Technologies. His current research spans diverse areas of chemistry and materials science ranging from energy to defense-related challenges.