Porous materials such as metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are of interest due to their chemical versatility and selectivity, which makes them useful for applications in gas separations, water purification, drug delivery and catalysis. Such nanomaterials can be made on the industrial scale, but current synthesis techniques focus on the production of such materials in a raw powdered or nanocrystalline form. Unfortunately, this makes them difficult to handle in large-scale applications and poses problems for efficient recovery and regeneration in the context of heterogeneous catalysis. This project will involve basic materials synthesis and characterisation and an investigation of methods for fabricating these materials into different porous composite films to improve the handling and chemical stability of these nanomaterials, as well as their regeneration and reuse when compared to the materials in their raw powdered form. 

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