Uranium is a unique, multifaceted element that possesses rich chemistry and promise for challenging reactions. Pressing demands within nuclear stockpile stewardship and the nuclear energy sector call for development of this relatively understudied element. Uranium metal–organic frameworks (U-MOFs), a class of nanoscale hybrid materials, harness the exceptional attributes of uranium while also further developing its fundamental chemistry. While structure-property relationships in U-MOFs correlate the physical arrangement of atoms in a U-MOF lattice to the resulting material behavior, energy-structure-property relationships allow researchers to rationalize these correlations. In this thesis, I identify and investigate energy-structure-property relationships in U-MOFs through the study of their dynamic crystalline structural transformations. Chapters 2-4 illustrate separate aspects of energy-structure-property relationships as individual vignettes (Chapter 2: structure-property relationships, Chapter 3: energy-structure relationships, Chapter 4: energy-property relationships). Finally, Chapter 5 ties energy, structure, and property together to explain why structure produces function. This thesis ultimately offers a deeper understanding of U-MOF behavior, discovers novel U-MOF phenomena, and delineates design rules for the budding U-MOF field.

Creator

• Hanna, Sylvia Lorraine

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-3t2r-9630

Subject

• Inorganic chemistry
• Nanoscience
• Chemistry

Language

• en

Alternate Identifier

• http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16404
• etdadmin_upload_961471

Keyword

• metal-organic frameworks
• uranium
• nanotechnology

Date created

• 2023-01-01

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright