Significant work has been done by hundreds of researchers on hybrid inorganic-organic frameworks, but little knowledge exists regarding surface chemical states and their reactivity. We are interested in the controlled, on-demand release of guest molecules from the pores of such frameworks, and this demands that the knowledge gaps are filled.

In a collaboration between the MacDonald lab, the Burdette lab, and our group, we strive to understand how to cap metal-organic frameworks in order to trap guest molecules inside, and how to create caps that will break down and release those guest molecules on demand with the application of light or heat or other stimulus.