Department of Chemistry Seminar – Dr. Mario Wriedt
About the event
Speaker: Dr. Mario Wriedt, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Fellow, Francis S. and Maurine G. Johnson Chair, Director of the UTD Crystallography Center, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Dallas
Host: Professor Qiang (Jack) Zhang
Title: Crystal Engineering of Programmable Sponges for Energy, Environmental and Medicinal Applications
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are crystalline porous materials composed of metal clusters or ions connected by polytopic organic linkers. Their framework structures, pore environment, and functionality make them uniquely tunable by the choice and connection of metal and organic building blocks, allowing the design of innovative materials with customized properties. Key features of MOFs include ultra large specific surface areas (up to ∼8000 m2/g) and pore volumes (up to ∼4.0 cm3/g). Wriedt Lab’s research programs all address interrelated fundamental aspects of the design, synthesis, and characterization of functional MOF materials. This presentation is a comprehensive overview on how the synergy of crystal engineering and X-ray diffraction will pave the way for the rational design of novel advanced functional MOF materials to address some our society’s most pressing energy, environmental, and health needs. For example, we show that MOFs can be used as platforms for (i) electrochromics: redox-active MOFs show low-voltage driven and fast switching times between colored and transparent states; (ii) water remediation: MOFs show ultra-high removal capacities coupled with ultra-fast removal kinetics of short- and long-chain PFAS from contaminated waters; (iii) viral testing: MOFs show rapid dual read out capability (colorimetric and fluorescence) for the detection of viral genomes featuring ultra-high sensitivity and accuracy.
Biography
Dr. Wriedt graduated with a M.S. Degree in Chemistry from Kiel University, Germany in 2008 and in 2010 he was awarded a Ph.D. in Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Christian Näther, working in the field of magnetic framework materials. Following a 2.5-year postdoctoral assignment at Texas A&M University in Prof. Hong-Cai Zhou’s group Dr. Wriedt focused his research on metal-organic frameworks with tunable physical properties. During that time, he received several awards and fellowships, including a postdoctoral fellowship from the German Academic Exchange Service and a Ph.D. fellowship from the German Chemical Industry Fund and the German National Academic Foundation. In 2013, he pursued his independent academic carrier at Clarkson University (Potsdam, NY) and moved to the University of Texas at Dallas in 2023 where Dr. Wriedt currently holds the rank of a tenured Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Fellow of the Francis S. and Maurine G. Johnson Chair, and the Director of the UTD Crystallography Center. His research is focused on the design and elucidation of structure-property relationships of novel functional solid-state materials which have the potential to advance the development of energy, environmental and health applications. His early work has been recognized by the ACS Doctoral New Investigator Award, the NSF Faculty Early CAREER Award and more recently by DoD’s SERDP Program with representative examples of his work featured on the covers of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Molecular Systems Design & Engineering, Dalton Transaction, and CrystEngComm.