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Scientists at CSIRO have developed a simple but effective technique for growing and adding value to an new group of smart materials which could be used in areas such as optical sensing and drug storage and delivery.

The researchers have developed a way to control the growth, and provide additional functionality, to a family of smart materials known as metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs.

MOFs consist of well-ordered ultra-porous crystals which form multi-dimensional structures with enormous surface areas. One gram of the material can have the surface area of more than three football fields.

Their spacious pores provide MOFs with the potential to be used as ‘sponges’ for storing gases such as hydrogen, carbon dioxide or natural gas. They could also be used as nano-sized sieves to purify gases or liquids, for catalysis, or for the targeted transport of drugs in the body.

Photographer : Dr Paolo Falcaro and Dr Dario Buso

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