The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) represents the ‘essence of life’ and contains the most precious information of every individual, such as a person’s ancestry, health conditions, and traits. Although its decoding was successful already 70 years ago, up till now a simple, cost-efficient method has not been developed to safely preserve DNA without perturbations over long […]
The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) equation for surface area determination is one of the most widely used and important equations in physical chemistry. Developed in the 1930s for non-microporous, open surfaces, it has since been used to estimate surface areas of a wide class of adsorbents such as active carbon, silicas, zeolites, and, more recently, porous metal-organic […]
In the last decades, the material class of reticular materials, i.e., metal-organic and covalent organic frameworks (MOFs and COFs), has attracted increasing attention due to their rich chemistry and usability in various applications. Downsizing them from the macroscopic to nanometer length scale significantly boosts the materials properties, which opens up even more unexpected possibilities. To […]
I am delighted to announce, on the recommendation of the College of Science, that the Professorial Committee of the University of Lincoln has agreed to confer me the title of Visiting Professor of Functional Materials. A Visiting Professorship is one which is awarded to a distinguished individual of recognised academic and/or professional standing, whose association […]
An international and interdisciplinary team of scientists, comprising Stefan Wuttke from BCMaterials (Spain) and Steven Boxer from Stanford University (USA), has received a prestigious three-year Human Frontier Science Program Research (HFSP) Grant. The project aims to study and understand the physical basis of enzyme catalysis. Enzymes are remarkable biological catalysts responsible for driving complex metabolic reactions […]
Owing to their immense design versatility, the number of novel metal-organic framework (MOF) structures and their proposed applications, especially for MOF nanoparticles, is exponentially increasing (Figure 1). But although the potential hazards of such nanosized particles have become evident, a systemic hazard assessment of MOF nanoparticles, including the evaluation of their toxicity as well as […]
The design and functionalization of materials is a cornerstone of synthetic chemistry. Since its discovery, a quarter of a century ago, reticular synthesis — linking molecular building units by strong bonds into 2D and 3D extended crystalline porous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) — has been added to the repertoire of synthetic chemists. Reticular chemistry operates in […]
The current health crisis caused by the spread of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has grounded humanity in unprecedented ways. Our stores of knowledge and laboratories of creation were shuttered, and we experienced the reality of ‘lockdown’. As researchers sitting in their homes hiding from this invisible invader and watching helplessly its destruction of innocent lives, we are […]
Emerging Scholars at the Frontiers Symposium The „21st Century Materials: Emerging Scholars at the Frontiers“ Symposium aims to discuss the most recent advancements in Materials Science delivered by emerging scholars at the frontiers. The symposium is jointly organized by the Berkeley Global Science Institute (Prof. Omar Yaghi, USA), Basque Center for Materials (Prof. Stefan Wuttke, Spain), and College of Science at […]
Our recent presents a synthetic approach to building structures at the macroscopic scale by introducing the idea of augmented reticular chemistry — crystals of metal-organic framework (MOF) are connected by strong bonds into superframeworks (Figure). This strategy escalates the size of the building blocks from molecules to crystals and brings about progression from MOFs to […]