Stolz, Robert
Submitted to Dartmouth College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry.
DISSERTATION ABSTRACT:
Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs) and Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) are emerging materials with multifunctional properties that allow them to address global issues in chemical separations and sequestration, chemical sensing, and energy storage and conversion. Many of these applications rely on the ensemble of host–guest interactions between targeted molecular species and the surface of the framework to imbue selective properties that enhance applied performance metrics. Design principles guiding the construction of materials with desired surface chemistry and functionality are lacking for framework materials targeted towards chemical sensing. A better fundamental understanding of how host–guest interactions inform function and how host sites can be designed into a framework system through bottom-up synthetic techniques is required to advance the field of framework materials for electroanalysis. In four chapters, this thesis provides insight into the role of surface chemistry in chemical sensing in both the liquid and gas phase and how the interplay between surface chemistry and conductivity can be controlled by the strategic choice of starting materials and material morphology to produce materials with robust capabilities in chemicals sensing.