• Our research focuses on the interface between inorganic and organic chemistry.

• We develop new materials for catalysis and gas capture.

• The materials consist of organic as well as inorganic structural motifs.

• We study the relationship between structure, properties and catalytic performance.

Hybrid organic-inorganic materials

Organic-inorganic hybrids are sophisticated materials composed of organic as well as inorganic structural motifs, and they uniquely adopt properties of both components.

Hybrids count several classes of compounds including (1) metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) in which metal centers are connected via organic linkers, (2) two-dimensional inorganic layers with metal-organic complexes sandwiched in-between and (3) composites of carbon based materials and nanoparticles. Independent design of the organic and inorganic parts allows tailoring of the material porosity and properties.

Catalysis

We synthesize and functionalize materials for photo-, electro- and heterogeneous catalysis. Reactions in focus are:

• Photocatalytic water splitting for H2 production
• CO2 capture and catalytic reduction (CADIAC)
• Selected organic chemical reactions 

Our aim is to produce cheap and efficient catalysts and to characterize them in detail to understand the relation between structure, physical properties and catalytic performance.