CAREER: Conductive Framework Materials for Ultrasensitive, Low Power Detection of Gases

Dartmouth College, Hanover NH

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program in the Division of Chemistry, and co-funding from the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, Professor Katherine Mirica and her group at Dartmouth College are developing materials and devices to enable portable, low-power detection of industrially and biologically important gases - "wearable sensors." Conceptual and technological advances emerging from this work may be applicable to designs of smart bandages, smart sutures, and stimuli-responsive personal protective equipment. In parallel with these efforts, Professor Mirica is also working to build public awareness of chemical sensing and to improve recruitment, education, and retention of high school, undergraduate, and graduate students in analytical and materials chemistry. Workforce development efforts include a hands-on "Research Scientist for a Day Workshop" for high-school students and provision of research internships for students underrepresented in chemistry, including economically disadvantaged students. The biotechnologies that result from this research will have impact on the bioeconomy. The Mirica group is working to transform modular conductive framework materials into versatile and integral components of mobile gas sensing devices. The experimental approach relies on principles of computational molecular design, chemical synthesis, spectroscopic characterization, and electroanalysis. The research centers on molecular engineering of host-guest interactions in porous framework materials through chemical synthesis and morphological control and the identification of host-guest interactions of bulk materials using targeted spectroscopic probes. Finally, the team seeks to establish structure-property relationships that govern the electroanalytical performance of conductive framework materials in solid state devices. This research is poised to enable development of a core technological advance in materials and device design with broad potential utility in mobile chemical sensing. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.