Biography:

Jia Min Chin originally hails from the sunny island of Singapore. For her PhD studies, she trained under the supervision of 2005 Nobel Laureate Professor Richard R. Schrock at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she studied N2 activation by Mo and W complexes. After her studies, she returned to Singapore to serve at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, IMRE where she helped to start the institute’s research on coordination polymers. In 2013, she set up and headed the Laboratory of Advanced Porous Materials at IMRE. Her lab focused on the development of new porous materials such as coordination polymers or MOFs, understanding the self-assembly mechanisms of porous films, as well as studying new applications for soft porous materials such as dry liquids. In recognition of her research work, Jia Min was awarded the 2013 L’Oréal Singapore for Women in Science National Fellowship. Jia Min joined the University of Hull’s Chemistry Department towards the end of October 2014.

In November 2019, she joined the University of Vienna as an Assistant Professor, and in November 2020, she was awarded the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant to carry out research on field-manipulation of MOF materials. In March 2022, she was promoted to Associate Professor. Besides MOFs and colloidal materials manipulation, her current research interests are bio-inspired materials exhibiting special properties such as structural colour, high strength and toughness as well as self-healing capabilities.

Abstract:

Biological composites bear complex designs and hierarchical structures that are key to their specific function and exceptional properties. However, the structural and functional complexities of natural materials are difficult to integrate into synthetic composites, as the control of materials across multiple length scales is a major scientific challenge. We work on the preparation, assembly and multi-length scale structuring of Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) and other colloidal materials and composite systems for optical and ion conduction applications, using an interdisciplinary approach. Most MOFs possess non-cubic lattices and anisotropic functionality dependent upon crystallographic direction, and are generally synthesized in bulk as loose as microcrystalline powders. As such, for practical purposes, general methods to manipulate and orient free- standing MOF crystals would be useful to harness their anisotropic functionality. This talk will focus on our exploitation of physicochemical interactions at air/liquid/solid interfaces, as well as top-down processing methods and external fields to manipulate MOF materials, ranging from tuning MOF crystal size and shapes to the dynamic alignment of NU-1000 MOF microrods as well as E-field assisted liquid crystalline assembly of MOF particle superstructures.