Our Research

Safe drinking water is becoming increasingly scarce on all of Earth’s continents. Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of highly porous, tunable materials that perform well in water purification, desalination, reverse osmosis, and atmospheric water harvesting applications, and thus may reduce the human costs of water scarcity in the coming decades. We utilize a combination of spectroscopic techniques including 2D IR, FTIR, and VSFG microscopy to gain an understanding of how high-performance MOFs interact with water on a molecular level. Our goal is to provide insights that will guide the development of improved MOF materials for water applications.