FURI | Spring 2020

The Filtration Properties of Electrospun MOF Fibers

The objective of this research is to demonstrate the efficacy of electrospun metal organic frameworks (MOFs) for use in charged dye filtration in aqueous solutions. HKUST-1 and ZIF-8 will both be electrospun with the polymer matrimid. A layer of these composite fibers will be used for filtration. Fluorescence spectroscopy will be used to observe less intense emitted fluorescence from the studied dyes after filtration to indicate the success of the filtration.  Future work should explore the filtration properties of more MOFs in order to demonstrate a correlation between their molecular structure and their viability as a filtering and adsorbing material for anionic organic molecules.