The development of the new cathode and anode materials of Lithium-Ion Batteries (LIBs) with high energy density and outstanding electrochemical performance is of substantial technological importance due to the ever-increasing demand for economic and efficient energy storage system. Because of the abundance of element sulfur and high theoretical energy density, Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) batteries have become one of the most promising candidates for the next-generation energy storage system. However, the shuttling effect of electrolyte-soluble polysulfides severely impedes the cell performance and commercialization of Li-S batteries, and significant progress have been made to mitigate this shuttle effect in the past two decades. Coordination polymers (CPs) or Metal-organic Frameworks (MOFs) have been attracted much attention by virtue of their controllable porosity, nanometer cavity sizes and high surface areas, which supposed to be an available material in suppressing polysulfide migration. In this thesis, we investigate different mechanisms of mitigating polysulfide diffusion by applying a layer of MOFs (including Y-FTZB, ZIF-7, ZIF-8, and HKUST-1) on a separator. We also fabricate a new free-standing 2D coordination polymer Zn2(Benzimidazolate)2(OH)2 with rich hydroxyl (OH-) groups by using a simple, scalable and low cost method at air/water surface. Our results suggest that the chemical stability, the cluster morphology and the surface function groups of MOFs shows a greater impact on minimizing the shuttling effect in Li-S batteries, other than the internal cavity size in MOFs. Meanwhile, the new design of 2D coordination polymer efficiently mitigate the shuttling effect in Li-S battery resulting in a largely promotion of the battery capacity to 1407 mAh g-1 at 0.1 C and excellent cycling performance (capacity retention of 98% after 200 cycles at 0.25C). Such excellent cell performance is mainly owing to the fancying physical and chemical structure controllability of MOFs or CPs, which has substantial potential for future commercial utilizations.

Many applications of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are highly dependent on their structures. The type and consistency of structure inform their properties. Zinc-based MOFs are applicable in different fields because of the low toxicity of zinc materials and are therefore also useful for catalysis. While MOF-5, a zinc-based MOF with carboxylate linkers is moisture intolerant, a variant of this is moisture tolerant. The introduction of a nitrogen-based linker in the zinc MOF which renders the structure moisture-tolerant. This material has not been explored as much, despite its multifunctional properties. Furthermore, the growth of Zn-based bimetallics of this MOF has not yet been explored. In this work, I studied the synthesis of this zinc-based moisture-tolerant MOF-5 as a thin film using a simple, fast, and cost-effective layer-by-layer wet synthesis method on different substrate surfaces. I successfully synthesized a series of bimetallics of this MOF as thin films on an untreated silicon wafer substrate. The successful synthesis of these materials was confirmed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy techniques. Additionally, some software data analysis tools were used for the characterization of the surface of the thin films to quantify the chemical composition. Future applications of these materials will be as sorbent materials for the capture of CO2 and its subsequent conversion to CO which is a synthesis gas for different useful materials like fuel and other chemical materials.

Yes / Grinding solid reagents under solvent-free or low-solvent conditions (mechanochemistry) is emerging as a general synthetic technique which is an alternative to conventional solvent-intensive methods. However, it is essential to find ways to scale-up this type of synthesis if its promise of cleaner manufacturing is to be realised. Here, we demonstrate the use of twin screw and single screw extruders for the continuous synthesis of various metal complexes, including Ni(salen), Ni(NCS)2(PPh3)2 as well as the commercially important metal organic frameworks (MOFs) Cu3(BTC)2 (HKUST-1), Zn(2-methylimidazolate)2 (ZIF-8, MAF-4) and Al(fumarate)(OH). Notably, Al(fumarate)(OH) has not previously been synthesised mechanochemically. Quantitative conversions occur to give products at kg h−1 rates which, after activation, exhibit surface areas and pore volumes equivalent to those of materials produced by conventional solvent-based methods. Some reactions can be performed either under completely solvent-free conditions whereas others require the addition of small amounts of solvent (typically 3–4 mol equivalents). Continuous neat melt phase synthesis is also successfully demonstrated by both twin screw and single screw extrusion for ZIF-8. The latter technique provided ZIF-8 at 4 kg h−1. The space time yields (STYs) for these methods of up to 144 × 103 kg per m3 per day are orders of magnitude greater than STYs for other methods of making MOFs. Extrusion methods clearly enable scaling of mechanochemical and melt phase synthesis under solvent-free or low-solvent conditions, and may also be applied in synthesis more generally. / EPSRC (EP/L019655/1)

This research aimed to develop new composite membranes using a polymer of intrinsic microporosity (PIM-1) and metal organic frameworks (MOFs) for use in gas separations. PIM-1 was successfully synthesised using the high temperature method (40 min, 160 oC) and the resulting polymer was cast into membranes. PIM-1 membranes were chemically modified by reacting hexamethylenediamine (HMDA) with the nitrile group of PIM-1 to form HMDA-modified PIM-1 membranes. Surfaces of PIM-1 membranes were also modified by basic hydrolysis to form amide-modified PIM-1 membranes. These polymer materials were characterized by different techniques (GPC, NMR, ATR-IR, TGA, Elemental analysis and nitrogen sorption analysis). In addition, eight MOF materials [MIL-101(Cr), ED-g-MIL-101(Cr), TEPA-g-MIL-101(Cr), MIL-101(Cr)-NH2, MIL-101(Al)-NH2, UiO-66(Zr), UiO-66-NH2 and UiO-66(COOH)2] were successfully synthesized. They were chosen due to having high surface areas and large porosity. These MOF compounds were characterized using PXRD, SEM, TGA, and low pressure N2.Successful PIM-1/MOF MMMs were fabricated utilising PIM-1 and the MOFs outlined above with various loadings. The highest MOF loading achieved was 28.6 wt. %, apart from MIL-101(Cr)-NH2, for which it was 23.1 wt. %, and MIL-101(Al)-NH2, for which it was 19.8 wt. %. The morphology of MMMs was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), proving the dispersion of MOF fillers. Novel PIM-1 supported MOF membranes were successfully prepared by depositing ZIF-8 and HKUST-1 layers on the surfaces of unmodified and modified PIM-1 membranes. These materials were characterized using PXRD, SEM, ATR-IR and SEM-EDX. Gas permeation properties of the MOF/PIM-1 MMMs and PIM-1 supported MOF membranes were determined using a time lag method. Most MMMs tested showed an increase in the permeability and stable selectivity as the MOF amount was increased. However, this was not true for MIL-101(Al)-NH2, where the permeability and selectivity decreased. In contrast, PIM-1 supported ZIF-8 and HKUST-1 membranes caused a sharp decrease in the permeability and increase in the selectivity.

Submitted by ELAINE CRISTINA MUNIZ null (elainecris7@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-03-11T12:09:12Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ELAINE CRISTINA MUNIZ-tese.pdf: 10917322 bytes, checksum: bd6553f5a382221f4d18db6600416bcb (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Felipe Augusto Arakaki (arakaki@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-03-14T18:09:48Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 muniz_ec_dr_araiq_par.pdf: 726928 bytes, checksum: c405502c64aca6bda28f96dbbfbca30f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-14T18:09:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 muniz_ec_dr_araiq_par.pdf: 726928 bytes, checksum: c405502c64aca6bda28f96dbbfbca30f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-26 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Materiais luminescentes despertam grande interesse nas pesquisas devido à variedade de aplicações, podendo ser empregados em displays eletrônicos, lâmpadas fluorescentes e diodos emissores de luz, por exemplo. Neste contexto, os íons lantanídeos trivalentes são destaque pois apresentam propriedades luminescentes únicas como alta pureza de cor, tempo de vida de nano a milissegundos e linhas de emissão definidas e estreitas provenientes de transições intraconfiguracionais 4f-4f. No entanto, devida à natureza proibida dessas transições, os íons lantanídeos apresentam baixa absortividade molar. Para suprir essa deficiência, pode ser realizada a coordenação destes íons com bons grupos cromóforos capazes de transferir energia para os níveis 4f dos lantanídeos. Outra estratégia para melhorar as propriedades luminescentes de materiais é através da combinação e/ou dopagem utilizando diferentes lantanídeos, o que pode resultar na emissão de ambos os íons ou na emissão preferencial de um deles por meio de processos de transferência de energia. Espécies bimetálicas heteronucleares e polímeros de coordenação porosos (Metal Organic Frameworks, MOFs) se destacam neste cenário. Neste trabalho foram estudadas quatro séries de compostos bimetálicos heteronucleares utilizando succinato de sódio e ácido 3,5-dicarbóxipirazolico como ligantes e variando a razão entre dois íons lantanídeos distintos, Gd3+:Eu3+, Gd3+:Tb3+, Dy3+:Eu3+ e Eu3+:Tb3+. Os compostos obtidos foram caracterizados por difração de raios X de monocristal e de pó, espectroscopia na região do IV, análise térmica, espectroscopia de reflectância difusa, espectroscopia de fotoluminescência com excitação UV, luminescência com excitação por raios X e microscopia eletrônica de varredura associada à espectroscopia por energia dispersiva. Os complexos apresentaram interessantes propriedades luminescentes. Para as séries de compostos contendo íons Gd3+, quanto maior a quantidade de Gd3+, maior a intensidade da banda relativa à transferência de carga do ligante para o metal, indicando que os íons Gd3+ possuem um papel importante no mecanismo de transferência de energia do ligante para os lantanídeos emissores. Foram calculados os parâmetros de intensidade, as taxas de decaimento radiativo e não-radiativo e a eficiência quântica para a série Gd3+:Eu3+, que apresentaram baixa eficiência quântica, devido principalmente à supressão da luminescência pelas moléculas de água presente na estrutura. Os compostos da série Dy3+:Eu3+ não apresentam transferência de energia entre os lantanídeos e só foi possível observar a emissão dos dois íons ao mesmo tempo quando a excitação é realizada no ligante ou quando se utilizou raios X para a excitação. Já na série Eu3+:Tb3+, observou-se transferência de energia apenas dos íons Tb3+ para os íons Eu3+. O oposto não foi verificado. Os espectros de emissão dessa série registrados em diferentes temperaturas mostram que os compostos Eu3+:Tb3+ possuem potencialidade para aplicação como termômetro molecular na faixa de temperatura entre -80 e 25°C. Foram realizadas três sínteses diferentes para preparação dos MOFs. Os compostos obtidos apresentam intensidade de emissão e eficiência quântica elevadas. Além disso, a estabilidade térmica dos compostos é evidência de que os compostos obtidos podem ser de fato MOFs. / Luminescent materials attract interest in research due to the diversity of applications. These materials can be used at electronic displays, fluorescent lamps and light emitting diodes, for example. In this context, trivalent lanthanide ions are interesting because of their unique luminescent properties like high color purity, nano to milliseconds lifetime and narrow emission lines from 4f-4f transitions. However, because of the nature of forbidden 4f-4f transitions, lanthanide ions have low molar absorptivity. To supply this deficiency, the lanthanide ions can be coordinated to chromophore groups, capable of transfer energy to the 4f levels of lanthanides. It is also possible to improve the luminescent properties of materials by combining different lanthanides, which can result in the emission of both ions or in the preferential emission of one of them by energy transfer processes. Bimetallic heteronuclear complexes and metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are interesting in this context. In this work, four bimetallic heteronuclear compounds series with sodium succinate and 3,5- dicarboxypyrazolate ligands were prepared with different lanthanides ratio, Gd3+:Eu3+ , Gd3+:Tb3+, Dy3+:Eu3+ e Eu3+:Tb3+ . The compounds were characterized by single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal analysis, UV-Vis spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, X-ray excited optical luminescence and field emission gun-scanning electron microscopy, with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The complexes present interesting luminescent properties. In Gd3+ compounds series, by increasing the amount of Gd3+ ions in the sample, the intensity of the relative charge transfer band also increases, indicating that the Gd3+ ions play an important role in the energy transfer mechanism from ligands to the lanthanides. The intensity parameters, the radiative and non-radiative decay rates and the quantum efficiency were calculated to Gd3+:Eu3+ series, which showed low quantum efficiency due to luminescence quenching by water molecules in the structure. The Dy3+:Eu3+ compounds does not show energy transfer between the lanthanides ions and the emission from both ions was observed simultaneously only under excitation at the ligand absorption or under X-rays excitation. In the Eu3+:Tb3+ series, the energy transfer was observed only from Tb3+ ions to the Eu3+ ions. The opposite was not verified. The emission spectra of the Eu3+:Tb3+ compound recorded at different temperatures show that this series compounds present potential to be applied as molecular thermometer in the range of -80 to 25 °C. Three different syntheses were performed to prepare MOFs. The obtained compounds exhibit high emission intensity and good quantum efficiency. Furthermore, the thermal stability of the compounds is evidence to propose that the obtained compounds is indeed MOFs. / CNPq: 141262/2012-5

<div> <p>Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of compounds consisting of metal ions or clusters coordinated to organic ligands in porous structure forms. MOFs have been proposed in use for gas adsorption, purification, and separation applications. This work combines MOFs with 3D printing technologies, in which 3D printed plastics serve as a mechanical structural support for MOFs powder, in order to realize a component design for gas adsorption. The objective of the thesis is to understand the gas adsorption behavior of MIL-101 (Cr) MOF coated on 3D printed PETG, a glycol modified version of polyethylene terephthalate, through a combined experimental and modeling study. The specific goals are: (1) synthesis of MIL-101 (Cr) MOFs; (2) nitrogen gas adsorption measurements and microstructure and phase characterization of the MOFs; (3) design and 3D printing of porous PETG substrate structures; (4) deposition of MOFs coating on the PETG substrates; and (5) Monte Carlo (MC) modeling of sorption isotherms of nitrogen and carbon dioxide in the MOFs.</p><p>The results show that pure MIL-101 (Cr) MOFs were successfully synthesized, as confirmed by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and X-ray diffrac- tion (XRD), which are consistent with literature data. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area measurement shows that the MOFs samples have a high cover- age of nitrogen. The specific surface area of a typical MIL-101 (Cr) MOFs sample is 2716.83 m2/g. MIL-101 (Cr) also shows good uptake at low pressures in experimental tests for nitrogen adsorption. For the PETG substrate, disk-shape plastic samples with a controlled pore morphology were designed and fabricated using the fused de-</p><p> </p><p>position modeling (FDM) process. MOFs were coated on the PETG substrates using a layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly approach, up to 30 layers. The MOFs coating layer thicknesses increase with the number of deposition layers. The computational model illustrates that the MOFs show increased outputs in adsorption of nitrogen as pres- sure increases, similar to the trend observed in the adsorption experiment. The model also shows promising results for carbon dioxide uptake at low pressures, and hence the developed MOFs based components would serve as a viable candidate in gas adsorption applications.</p><div><br></div></div>

L'objectif de cette thèse était d'évaluer quelques Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), choisis en fonction de leur taille de pores, de leur volume poreux et de leur stabilité thermique, en adsorption et séparation des hydrocarbures. Pour étudier le comportement général des MOFs nous avons choisi des MOFs avec des centres métalliques insaturés, des MOFs à charpente anionique et des ZIFs neutres et avons étudié leur sélectivité en séparation de trois familles d'hydrocarbures, à savoir alcanes, alcènes, aromatiques. Les MOFs à centre métallique insaturé se comportent généralement comme des zéolithes polaires, les ZIFs comme des zéolithes apolaires et/ou comme des tamis moléculaires. Les adsorbants les plus prometteurs sont testés sur des séparations d'intérêt industriel telles que la séparation des isomères de xylène, la séparation des paraffines linéaires, monobranchées et di-branchées et l'adsorption sélective du thiophène en vu de l'évaluation de ces adsorbants en désulfuration des essences.

Ce travail de thèse s’inscrit dans un contexte d’explosion des nanoparticules et de leur très grand potentiel pour des applications en cancérologie. Ainsi, deux classes de nanoparticules ont été étudiées afin de valider et de caractériser biologiquement ce potentiel. Premièrement les Nanodiamants hydrogénés (H-NDs) dont l’interaction avec les photons de l’irradiation comme générateur de stress oxidatif était au cœur du postulat physico-chimique. Nous avons non seulement validé cette hypothèse dans plusieurs lignées cellulaires de cancer du rein et du sein notamment, insensibles aux doses d’irradiation étudiées ; mais également identifié la sénescence comme étant la voie activée par le double traitement H-NDs et irradiation. Les Solides hybrides poreux sont également des matériaux prometteurs grâce à leur haut pouvoir d’encapsulation de molécules actives. Nous avons ainsi démontré l’absence de toxicité de ces composés seuls dans quatre lignées de cancer du poumon et du foie, élément essentiel avant d’envisager leur utilisation, chargés avec des principes actifs. Enfin, à l’heure où la réglementation internationale encourage le développement et l’utilisation de modèles alternatifs à l’expérimentation animale, nous avons mis au point un modèle de culture tridimensionnelle d’adénocarcinome mucosécrétant de poumon. Il est utilisé pour l’étude de la progression tumorale ainsi que pour la découverte de nouvelles molécules de chimiothérapie. / The present work focuses on nanoparticles and their great skills for oncology therapies. Two kinds of nanoparticles have been studied in order to biologically validate and characterize their features. The use of hydrogenated Nanodiamonds (H-NDs) as radio sensitizer is based on a physic-chemical postulate where they act as oxidative stress generator through interaction with irradiation. Thus we validated this hypothesis in radio resistant kidney and breast cancer cell lines and identify senescence as the main pathway after co-treatment with H-NDs and irradiation. Metal organic frameworks are also of particular interest for drug delivery because of their very important loading capacities. Here we demonstrate the biocompatibility of the empty compounds in four lung and hepatic cancer cell lines, a main point before their involvement in drug delivery strategies. Finally, following international guidelines encouraging to make animal testing more ethic, we developed a new 3D cell culture mimicking mucinous lung adenocarcinoma. This well characterized model will be used for the study of cancer development and drug screening.

L'objectif de cette thèse était d’évaluer quelques Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), choisis en fonction de leur taille de pores, de leur volume poreux et de leur stabilité thermique, en adsorption et séparation des hydrocarbures. Pour étudier le comportement général des MOFs nous avons choisi des MOFs avec des centres métalliques insaturés, des MOFs à charpente anionique et des ZIFs neutres et avons étudié leur sélectivité en séparation de trois familles d'hydrocarbures, à savoir alcanes, alcènes, aromatiques. Les MOFs à centre métallique insaturé se comportent généralement comme des zéolithes polaires, les ZIFs comme des zéolithes apolaires et/ou comme des tamis moléculaires. Les adsorbants les plus prometteurs sont testés sur des séparations d’intérêt industriel telles que la séparation des isomères de xylène, la séparation des paraffines linéaires, monobranchées et di-branchées et l’adsorption sélective du thiophène en vu de l’évaluation de ces adsorbants en désulfuration des essences. / The aim of this thesis was to evaluate several Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs), selected based on criteria of pore size, pore volume and thermal stability, in adsorption and separation of hydrocarbons. For studying the general behavior of MOFs in hydrocarbon adsorption, we have chosen MOFs with open metal sites, MOFs with anionic frameworks and neutral ZIFs. The MOFs with open metal sites behave similar to polar zeolites, the ZIFs behave like apolar zeolites and/or like molecular sieves. Finally we selected the most interesting MOFs and tested them in several separations with industrial interest: xylene isomers, paraffin isomers and selective adsorption of thiophene for the purpose of fuel desulfuration.

This thesis is largely a study of the ADOR process (assembly-disassembly-organisation-reassembly) when applied to zeolite UTL. The final chapter of this thesis deals with the adsorption of the medical gases NO and CO onto the metal organic framework NiNaSIP. Chapter 4 is devoted to the disassembly and organisation steps of the ADOR process. Calcined UTL was hydrolysed using 0.1 – 12 M HCl solutions from 75 – 95 °C run over 10 mins to 72 hrs. A three step mechanism is proposed, which is comprised of an initial rapid hydrolysis that removes the majority of the interlayer constituents of UTL, causing the silica-rich layers to largely collapse. This is followed by a slow, temperature and molarity dependent, deintercalation process that sees the remainder of the interlayer material removed resulting in the full collapse of the layers to form IPC-1P. The third step is a temperature and molarity dependent rebuilding process, whereby the interlayer region is slowly rebuilt, eventually forming a precursor which upon calcination becomes IPC-2 (OKO). Chapter 5 uses the pair distribution function (PDF) technique to structurally confirm the intermediate of the ADORable zeolite UTL. The intermediate, IPC-1P, is a disordered layered compound formed by the hydrolysis of UTL in 0.1 M HCl. Its structure is unsolvable by traditional X-ray diffraction techniques. The PDF technique was first benchmarked against high-quality synchrotron Rietveld refinements of IPC-2 (OKO) and IPC-4 (PCR) – two end products of IPC-1P condensation that share very similar structural features. An IPC-1P starting model derived from density functional theory was used for the PDF refinement, which yielded a final fit of Rw = 18% and a geometrically reasonable structure. This confirms that the layers do stay intact throughout the ADOR process, and shows that PDF is a viable technique for layered zeolite structure determination. Chapter 6 examines the reassembly stage by following the in-situ calcination of a variety of hydrolysed intermediates into their three-dimensional counterparts. Beamline I11 at Diamond Light Source provided high-quality PXRD patterns as a function of temperature, which were refined against using sequential Pawley refinements to track the unit cell changes. 0.1, 1.75, 2.5 and 12 M hydrolysed lamellar precursor phases were calcined. The largest unit cell changes were observed for 0.1 M, and the smallest for 12 M. This shows that increasing the molarity must prebuild most of the interlayer connections, such that upon calcination, only minimal condensation occurs to fully connect the layers. Chapter 7 probes the uptake of the medical gases CO and NO into the metal organic framework NiNaSIP. An in-situ single-crystal XRD study was undertaken using an environmental gas cell at beamline 11.3.1 at the Advanced Light Source. NiNaSIP was first dehydrated to reveal an open nickel site, which acted as the main site of adsorption for the inputted gases. NO was observed in a bent geometry at an occupancy of 40 % and a Ni – N bond length of 2.166(16) Å. The oxygen was modelled to be disordered over two sites. CO was not fully observed, as only the carbon was able to be modelled with an occupancy of 31.2 % and a Ni – C bond length of 2.27(3) Å.