We focus on leveraging nanospace for energy-related critical issues at the interface of organometallic and materials chemistry. The confined nanospace within porous materials, including metal-organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, and organic cages, provides unlimited opportunities and intriguing tools to interrogate fundamental questions in a variety of areas.
Students working in the lab will gain expertise in various facets of synthetic inorganic and material chemistry. They will become skilled at using NMR, FT-IR, gas adsorption, UV-vis spectroscopy, thermal analysis, and X-ray diffraction methods to characterize their materials. They have opportunities to access Synchrotron radiation to investigate their material structures. They are encouraged to attend local and national conferences to disseminate their most exciting results.
The Gao group would like to acknowledge the following organizations for financial support.
Students working in the group will access to the following equipment for their research in our own laboratory.
2 × Retsch Mixer Mill MM 400
Quantachrome Autosorb iQ
for Gas Adsorption
Benchtop Powder X-ray Diffractometer: MiniFlex
Shimadzu DTG-60 for TGA and DSC analyses
Agilent Cary 5000 UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer with Diffuse Reflectance Accessory Praying Mantis
ZEISS Stemi 508 with an Axiocam 208
Digital Camera
Thermo Scientific Nicolet iS20 DTGS
Infrared Spectrometer
Shimadzu Gas Chromatography
2 × Heidolph Hei-Vap Core Rotavapors
15 × Heidolph Hei-PLATE Mix 'n' Heat Core+ Stirring Plates
5 × Schlenk lines for moisture- and air-sensitive reactions