Chemist Ali Coskun visits the Materials Science Institute of Madrid

The researcher gave a lecture entitled 'Porous Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications' and met some of the scientist groups at ICMM.

Ali Coskun, a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, visited the Materials Science Institute of Madrid on May, 29th. The researcher gave the conference entitled 'Porous Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications' and enjoyed a tour at our centre.

During his visit, the researcher was wellcomed by Jesús Ricote, Deputy Director, who presented him the ICMM-CSIC reseacher lines. Them, and after a meet and greet coffee, Coskum gave the seminar 'Porous Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications'. Once he and some colleagues had lunch, the researcher had the opportunity to meet some of our research groups focused in chemistry area, so they could show our labs to the speaker, searching for new possible collaborations.

So, Coskum met Isabel Sobrados and Manuel Amarilla, from the Energy Conversion, Harvesting and Storage Group; Miguel Angel Camblor and Javier Pérez Carvajal, from the Nanostructured Hybrid, Biohybrid and Porous Materials Group; and Eva M. Maya, Marta Iglesias, Berta Gómez-Lor and Felipe Gándara, from the Multifuncional and Supramolecular Materials group.  

In fact, Felipe Gándara was the reseacher who invited Coskum to our centre as part of the Lectures on Materials Sciences series, a new chance to learn more about what is being researched in our (wide) fields of study.

Coskun explained that porous organic polymers (POPs) attracted a significant deal of attention in recent years due to their permanent porosity, chemical tunability, physicochemical stability and exceptional gas sorption properties. That is why their main approach in this field is the so-called “bottom-up” approach where the concepts of molecular recognition are being used along with covalent synthesis to arrange molecules to form multifunctional porous networks for addressing energy and environmental challenges.

The reseacher also actively explores sustainable polymerization strategies for the synthesis of porous materials. In this direction; he and his team have developed POPs incorporating molecular cages/macrocycles as monomeric units and showed that their intrinsic properties such as their ability to bind guest molecules in solution can be transferred into the solid-state for the affinity-based separation of gas mixtures.

"In an effort to synthesize two-, three-dimensional porous semiconductors, we introduced Diels-Alder cycloaddition polymerization reaction and the resulting polymers studied for their conductivity as well as for atmospheric water uptake prior to aromatization", he said. They also developed sulfur-rich porous materials towards natural gas sweetening, Li-sulfur batteries as well as Pd capture from waste conditions.

More recently, this researcher has also developed two-dimensional light switchable membranes towards H2/CO2 separation applications. The presentation will focus on the strategies for the synthesis of POPs as well as their energy and environment related applications.

His research program targets the development of functional polymeric materials by creating family of porous organic polymers, membranes and supramolecular polymers. His aim is to solve critical environmental problems originating from green-house emissions into the atmosphere with a particular emphasis on CO2 capture, separation & conversion, H2 storage as well as Li-ion batteries. The reseacher is author of more than 100 papers in high impact journals, and 10 patents, and has been recently recognized with the 2023 Swiss Green and Sustainable Chemistry Award.

-- Ángela R. Bonachera (text) and Carlos Arroyo/Morgan (photos) - ICMM Communication Unit --