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With a degree in chemistry, Ahmed Alzamly originally focused his research interests on photocatalysis – catalysts that absorb energy from the sun and use it to drive a chemical reaction. “We started by studying metal oxides in my lab, but these have shortcomings. And that’s how we arrived at using metal organic frameworks, or MOFs, as a new class of material that can harvest and utilize light,” Alzamly says. “The beauty of their organic linker is that you can change its functionality, in turn tuning the material’s activity in such a way that you can absorb more light.
Alzamly’s research journey began in 1993 when he moved to the United States to work toward his master’s from the University of Missouri–St. Louis. From there he migrated to Canada, where he worked in industry at the Xerox Research Center of Canada, west of Toronto.
Following the 2008 financial crisis, he worked as a lab researcher at UAEU for five years. He then went back to Canada to complete his PhD, before returning to UAEU.
Alzamly, who now works at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) speaks about his pioneering research which could impact fuel storage and climate change, and the partnership he has helped to foster between UAEU and UC Berkeley.
What are metal organic frameworks and what are some of their key applications?
MOFs are crystalline, highly porous materials with an ultra-high surface area that’s never been seen in any other material. They consist of metal ions connected to each other via an organic linker.
One of their main applications is absorption. Because MOFs have such high surface area and porosity, they’re able to absorb a lot of material inside their pores. This is useful, for example, in storing hydrogen gas in a condensed form. Consider a hydrogen-powered vehicle: the volume of hydrogen gas is so large, you’d need a tank three times the size of the car. So, you need to absorb that gas in a way to store it in a small place, and MOFs are a great example of an absorbent for hydrogen gas.
Another key application is climate change mitigation, based on the same principle. Storing large amounts of carbon dioxide in a high-capacity absorbent is an ultimate goal. And more applications for this material are coming.
What recent publications have you authored in the field of MOFs?
We have a recent paper on converting carbon dioxide into value-added chemicals. The product is used as a monomer for polycarbonates, which have applications in many fields. We’ve also published reviews of the applications of MOFs made using rare-earth metals, which have application in catalyzing organic reactions, and of MOFs made with s-block elements. There’s also a very recent paper on the related COFs, or covalent organic frameworks. In this paper we use sunlight to drive carbon dioxide photo reduction into different value-added products, even fuel.
How did your research into MOFs seed the partnership between UAEU and UC Berkeley?
I knew of a professor who works in MOFs, Omar Yaghi at UC Berkeley in the United States. So I sent him an email explaining that I’ve seen his work and I’m interested in collaborating. I was referred to his colleague, Kyle Cordova, who told me that they usually collaborate on the level of university-to-university partnerships. So we needed to talk to the big guys now. And it went all the way up, and the UAEU – UC Berkeley partnership started in 2018.
What are the key features of the partnership?
Yaghi and our Chancellor launched the UCB-UAEU Laboratory for Advanced Materials in 2019. We also ran a bootcamp at UAEU to introduce interested faculty members to MOFs and their potential applications. In addition, we’ve hosted a series of guest lectures, and sent three people from our department to go to UC Berkeley for a six-week training program to get hands-on experiences with how to make MOFs, and to learn what the research at UC Berkeley looks like.
We are currently planning the Global Science Summit, where there will be Nobel laureate speakers and ministers from the UAE in attendance. The Global Science Summit is a unique international event organized by UAEU and Berkeley Global Science Institute, which aims to bring the global science community together in order to share recent scientific discoveries in the physical and applied sciences. It also aims to promote international collaborations and building meaningful relationships across borders where prominent researchers, Nobel laureates and emerging scholars come together to present and discuss frontiers in scientific research including energy, water, material and environment.
We also have a scholar exchange program, and a PhD student currently studying at UC Berkeley. Through the collaboration, we’ve been able to publish research in high-impact journals. We’re researching MOFs for novel applications, such as in drug delivery, solar fuel cells, and gas sensors.
Looking to the future, what’s next for your work and for the partnership?
For me, the goal is to publish something really high-impact, perhaps in Nature or Science! In terms of the partnership, it’s to have a meaningful, real impact, and develop that material that can make the dream of carbon dioxide mitigation a reality. That’s the dream, and we’re working on it.