#Covalent organic frameworks

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Capturing and storing the carbon dioxide humans produce is key to lowering atmospheric greenhouse gases and slowing global warming, but today's carbon capture technologies work well only for concentrated sources of carbon, such as power plant exhaust. The same methods cannot efficiently capture carbon dioxide from ambient air, where concentrations are hundreds of times lower than in flue gases. Yet direct air capture, or DAC, is being counted on to reverse the rise of CO2 levels, which have reached 426 parts per million (ppm), 50% higher than levels before the Industrial Revolution. Without it, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we won't reach humanity's goal of limiting warming to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) above preexisting global averages.

Read more.

[konstruktivenachrichten]

An der Universität Berkeley wurde ein verbesserte CO2-Schwamm entwickelt, mit dem man bei 50 °C Kohlenstoffdioxid aufsaugen und speichern kann. Diese Temperatur wird z.B. auf Straßendecken im Sommer erreicht und es funktioniert auch an Orten, wo keine Bäume wachsen können (z.B. in Schornsteinen).

[sunaleisocial]

A new method to detect dehydration in plants

New Post has been published on https://sunalei.org/news/a-new-method-to-detect-dehydration-in-plants/

A new method to detect dehydration in plants

Have you ever wondered if your plants were dry and dehydrated, or if you’re not watering them enough? Farmers and green-fingered enthusiasts alike may soon have a way to find this out in real-time. 

Over the past decade, researchers have been working on sensors to detect a wide range of chemical compounds, and a critical bottleneck has been developing sensors that can be used within living biological systems. This is all set to change with new sensors by the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) that can detect pH changes in living plants — an indicator of drought stress in plants — and enable the timely detection and management of drought stress before it leads to irreversible yield loss.

Researchers from the Disruptive and Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP) interdisciplinary research group of SMART, MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, in collaboration with Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory and MIT, have pioneered the world’s first covalent organic framework (COF) sensors integrated within silk fibroin (SF) microneedles for in-planta detection of physiological pH changes. This advanced technology can detect a reduction in acidity in plant xylem tissues, providing early warning of drought stress in plants up to 48 hours before traditional methods.

Drought — or a lack of water — is a significant stressor that leads to lower yield by affecting key plant metabolic pathways, reducing leaf size, stem extension, and root proliferation. If prolonged, it can eventually cause plants to become discolored, wilt, and die. As agricultural challenges — including those posed by climate change, rising costs, and lack of land space — continue to escalate and adversely affect crop production and yield, farmers are often unable to implement proactive measures or pre-symptomatic diagnosis for early and timely intervention. This underscores the need for improved sensor integration that can facilitate in-vivo assessments and timely interventions in agricultural practices.

“This type of sensor can be easily attached to the plant and queried with simple instrumentation. It can therefore bring powerful analyses, like the tools we are developing within DISTAP, into the hands of farmers and researchers alike,” says Professor Michael Strano, co-corresponding author, DiSTAP co-lead principal investigator, and the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT.

SMART’s breakthrough addresses a long-standing challenge for COF-based sensors, which were — until now — unable to interact with biological tissues. COFs are networks of organic molecules or polymers — which contain carbon atoms bonded to elements like hydrogen, oxygen, or nitrogen — arranged into consistent, crystal-like structures, which change color according to different pH levels. As drought stress can be detected through pH level changes in plant tissues, this novel COF-based sensor allows early detection of drought stress in plants through real-time measuring of pH levels in plant xylem tissues. This method could help farmers optimize crop production and yield amid evolving climate patterns and environmental conditions.

“The COF-silk sensors provide an example of new tools that are required to make agriculture more precise in a world that strives to increase global food security under the challenges imposed by climate change, limited resources, and the need to reduce the carbon footprint. The seamless integration between nanosensors and biomaterials enables the effortless measurement of plant fluids’ key parameters, such as pH, that in turn allows us to monitor plant health,” says Professor Benedetto Marelli, co-corresponding author, principal investigator at DiSTAP, and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT.

In an open-access paper titled, “Chromatic Covalent Organic Frameworks Enabling In-Vivo Chemical Tomography” recently published in Nature Communications, DiSTAP researchers documented their groundbreaking work, which demonstrated the real-time detection of pH changes in plant tissues. Significantly, this method allows in-vivo 3D mapping of pH levels in plant tissues using only a smartphone camera, offering a minimally invasive approach to exploring previously inaccessible environments compared to slower and more destructive traditional optical methods.

DiSTAP researchers designed and synthesized four COF compounds that showcase tunable acid chromism — color changes associated with changing pH levels — with SF microneedles coated with a layer of COF film made of these compounds. In turn, the transparency of SF microneedles and COF film allows in-vivo observation and visualization of pH spatial distributions through changes in the pH-sensitive colors.

“Building on our previous work with biodegradable COF-SF films capable of sensing food spoilage, we’ve developed a method to detect pH changes in plant tissues. When used in plants, the COF compounds will transition from dark red to red as the pH increases in the xylem tissues, indicating that the plants are experiencing drought stress and require early intervention to prevent yield loss,” says Song Wang, research scientist at SMART DiSTAP and co-first author.

“SF microneedles are robust and can be designed to remain stable even when interfacing with biological tissues. They are also transparent, which allows multidimensional mapping in a minimally invasive manner. Paired with the COF films, farmers now have a precision tool to monitor plant health in real time and better address challenges like drought and improve crop resilience,” says Yangyang Han, senior postdoc at SMART DiSTAP and co-first author.

This study sets the foundation for future design and development for COF-SF microneedle-based tomographic chemical imaging of plants with COF-based sensors. Building on this research, DiSTAP researchers will work to advance this innovative technology beyond pH detection, with a focus on sensing a broad spectrum of biologically relevant analytes such as plant hormones and metabolites.

The research is conducted by SMART and supported by the National Research Foundation of Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence And Technological Enterprise program.

[jcmarchi]

A new method to detect dehydration in plants

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/a-new-method-to-detect-dehydration-in-plants/

A new method to detect dehydration in plants

Have you ever wondered if your plants were dry and dehydrated, or if you’re not watering them enough? Farmers and green-fingered enthusiasts alike may soon have a way to find this out in real-time. 

Over the past decade, researchers have been working on sensors to detect a wide range of chemical compounds, and a critical bottleneck has been developing sensors that can be used within living biological systems. This is all set to change with new sensors by the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) that can detect pH changes in living plants — an indicator of drought stress in plants — and enable the timely detection and management of drought stress before it leads to irreversible yield loss.

Researchers from the Disruptive and Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP) interdisciplinary research group of SMART, MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, in collaboration with Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory and MIT, have pioneered the world’s first covalent organic framework (COF) sensors integrated within silk fibroin (SF) microneedles for in-planta detection of physiological pH changes. This advanced technology can detect a reduction in acidity in plant xylem tissues, providing early warning of drought stress in plants up to 48 hours before traditional methods.

Drought — or a lack of water — is a significant stressor that leads to lower yield by affecting key plant metabolic pathways, reducing leaf size, stem extension, and root proliferation. If prolonged, it can eventually cause plants to become discolored, wilt, and die. As agricultural challenges — including those posed by climate change, rising costs, and lack of land space — continue to escalate and adversely affect crop production and yield, farmers are often unable to implement proactive measures or pre-symptomatic diagnosis for early and timely intervention. This underscores the need for improved sensor integration that can facilitate in-vivo assessments and timely interventions in agricultural practices.

“This type of sensor can be easily attached to the plant and queried with simple instrumentation. It can therefore bring powerful analyses, like the tools we are developing within DISTAP, into the hands of farmers and researchers alike,” says Professor Michael Strano, co-corresponding author, DiSTAP co-lead principal investigator, and the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT.

SMART’s breakthrough addresses a long-standing challenge for COF-based sensors, which were — until now — unable to interact with biological tissues. COFs are networks of organic molecules or polymers — which contain carbon atoms bonded to elements like hydrogen, oxygen, or nitrogen — arranged into consistent, crystal-like structures, which change color according to different pH levels. As drought stress can be detected through pH level changes in plant tissues, this novel COF-based sensor allows early detection of drought stress in plants through real-time measuring of pH levels in plant xylem tissues. This method could help farmers optimize crop production and yield amid evolving climate patterns and environmental conditions.

“The COF-silk sensors provide an example of new tools that are required to make agriculture more precise in a world that strives to increase global food security under the challenges imposed by climate change, limited resources, and the need to reduce the carbon footprint. The seamless integration between nanosensors and biomaterials enables the effortless measurement of plant fluids’ key parameters, such as pH, that in turn allows us to monitor plant health,” says Professor Benedetto Marelli, co-corresponding author, principal investigator at DiSTAP, and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT.

In an open-access paper titled, “Chromatic Covalent Organic Frameworks Enabling In-Vivo Chemical Tomography” recently published in Nature Communications, DiSTAP researchers documented their groundbreaking work, which demonstrated the real-time detection of pH changes in plant tissues. Significantly, this method allows in-vivo 3D mapping of pH levels in plant tissues using only a smartphone camera, offering a minimally invasive approach to exploring previously inaccessible environments compared to slower and more destructive traditional optical methods.

DiSTAP researchers designed and synthesized four COF compounds that showcase tunable acid chromism — color changes associated with changing pH levels — with SF microneedles coated with a layer of COF film made of these compounds. In turn, the transparency of SF microneedles and COF film allows in-vivo observation and visualization of pH spatial distributions through changes in the pH-sensitive colors.

“Building on our previous work with biodegradable COF-SF films capable of sensing food spoilage, we’ve developed a method to detect pH changes in plant tissues. When used in plants, the COF compounds will transition from dark red to red as the pH increases in the xylem tissues, indicating that the plants are experiencing drought stress and require early intervention to prevent yield loss,” says Song Wang, research scientist at SMART DiSTAP and co-first author.

“SF microneedles are robust and can be designed to remain stable even when interfacing with biological tissues. They are also transparent, which allows multidimensional mapping in a minimally invasive manner. Paired with the COF films, farmers now have a precision tool to monitor plant health in real time and better address challenges like drought and improve crop resilience,” says Yangyang Han, senior postdoc at SMART DiSTAP and co-first author.

This study sets the foundation for future design and development for COF-SF microneedle-based tomographic chemical imaging of plants with COF-based sensors. Building on this research, DiSTAP researchers will work to advance this innovative technology beyond pH detection, with a focus on sensing a broad spectrum of biologically relevant analytes such as plant hormones and metabolites.

The research is conducted by SMART and supported by the National Research Foundation of Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence And Technological Enterprise program.

[expectsomuch]

[hackernewsrobot]

Carbon dioxide capture from open air using covalent organic frameworks

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08080-x

[mattnicholls69]

New powder that captures carbon could be ‘quantum leap’ for industry

[scrmnviking]

New powder that captures carbon could be ‘quantum leap’ for industry

This is a ray of hope. Fingers crossed it moves forward.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Cobalt ions, not covalent organic frameworks themselves, drive catalytic activity, study finds

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are less stable as catalysts than previously thought but remain highly active. COFs are promising designer catalysts, for example for the sustainable production of chemicals and fuels. Their properties can be adjusted very specifically to catalyze a desired reaction based on their precise tunability, both in terms of molecular structure and chemical compositions. However, researchers at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, and the Max Planck Institutes for Solid State Research (MPI-FKF) and for Sustainable Materials (MPI-SusMat) have shown that the catalytic activity is not generated by the COFs themselves. Instead, the cobalt ions detach from the scaffold and transform into oxidic nanoparticles that actually facilitate the catalysis. The team describes these results in the journal Advanced Science. "With the knowledge gained from this study, we will be able to design catalysts from organic frameworks and nanoparticles that are significantly more efficient than COFs designed before," says Professor Kristina Tschulik from Ruhr University Bochum and the RESOLV Cluster of Excellence, who came up with the idea for the study jointly with Professor Bettina Lotsch from the MPI-FKF.

Read more.

[tsmom1219]

Capturing carbon from the air just got easier

Read the full story from the University of California Berkeley. In the face of rising CO2 levels, scientists are searching for sustainable ways of pulling carbon dioxide out of the air, so-called direct air capture. A new type of porous material, a covalent organic framework (COF) with attached amines, stands out because of its durability and efficient adsorption and desorption of CO2 at…

[nosotinylife]

Publisher Correction: Elastic films of single-crystal two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks

http://dlvr.it/TCjFXs

[alexandergujral]

Organic Chemistry - Driving Diverse Scientific Advancements

Organic chemistry focuses on carbon-containing compounds and their composition, structure, properties, and reactions. Exploring organic substances at the molecular level, it examines how carbon interacts with elements such as nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur. Such compounds form covalent bonds, with electrons shared among elements that make up the molecules at the last energy level of the atom.

By contrast, inorganic chemistry is restricted to those compounds that do not contain carbon (and therefore are also not living). Their bonds are created synthetically through electrostatic interactions and are excellent electricity and heat conductors.

Organic compounds are diverse, spanning 50 million types and encompassing both natural compounds, which are rooted in living beings and the waste they produce, and synthetic compounds created in a lab. The four major types of compounds residing in living beings are proteins, carbohydrates, lipids (fats), and nucleic acids (the basis of DNA). In a majority of cases, the carbon contained in these molecules is bonded with hydrogen as one of the elements.

Organic chemistry has vital role in leading-edge scientific research. For example, in searching for extraterrestrial life on different planets, researchers are looking at the stability of various organic compounds in atmospheres radically different than Earth’s, which relies on dihydrogen monoxide (H2O) as a life-enabling solvent. Research indicates that concentrated sulfuric acid (H2SO4), which exists on Venus, can also support reactions fundamental to organic chemistry. At the same time, Venusian clouds form at an altitude where the air pressure would allow nucleic acid base stability. Nucleic acids, foundational to animal and plant DNA, encompass cytosine, guanine, adenosine, thymine, and uracil.

The recent study, published in Astrobiology, exposed 20 amino acids to sulfuric acid at a concentration typical on Venus. Levels of reactivity were measured, with the results indicating that the chemical reactions might lead to life forming. One major limitation of the study was that it was carried out in a lab environment, which lacks the trace elements of CO2 and other gasses found in the Venusian atmosphere, as well as the constant bombardment by meteors that often contain amino acids in large concentrations.

Another avenue of organic chemistry research focuses on creating touchless technologies that will drive computer interfaces that do not need to be physically touched to function. With the pandemic and possible transmission of disease through touching shared devices a major concern, researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia are focusing on creating supramolecular structures, or crystalline cages, able to absorb water.

Current touchless sensors rely on physical stimuli ranging from ultrasound to infrared radiation. The new approach focuses on chemistry, with chemical cages created in the lab combining moisture-sensitive elements such as carboxylic groups on the external surface and protonated amines in the cavity’s interior. With human skin constantly releasing moisture, the moisture craving molecules in the sensors are extremely efficient in capturing this humidity change.

Benefits of this approach include lessening a reliance on gestures or proximity in enabling touchless interfaces. In addition, touchless technologies could be applied to various surfaces beyond traditional screens, such as any porous material able to uptake water “with high adsorption and desorption kinetics.” This opens to the door to covalent–organic frameworks (COFs) and metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), which are not currently in use for touchless applications.

One research team deliverable was a basic touchless screen and a touchless ‘password manager’ device. The latter mimics smartphones’ patterned screen locks and incorporates 25 humidity sensors that are responsive to finger proximity. This not only boosts safety by not needing to be touched, but it is also highly scalable, as both the potential materials and the fabrication processes are inexpensive.

[jcmarchi]

Molecular Weaving Makes Polymer Composites Stronger Without Compromising Function - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/molecular-weaving-makes-polymer-composites-stronger-without-compromising-function-technology-org/

Molecular Weaving Makes Polymer Composites Stronger Without Compromising Function - Technology Org

At its most basic, chemistry is a lot like working with building blocks at its most basic level, but the materials are atoms and molecules. COFs – or covalent organic frameworks, a new class of porous crystals – are a great example of a material that behaves like a molecular Lego set, where individual building blocks are connected through strong chemical bonds to form a highly open and structured network.

This intricate structure provides a scaffold for polymer chains to thread or wrap during their formation and strength. Think of a woven scarf or basket – a single piece of yarn or twine may not be much on its own, but when woven together, the pattern enhances the final product’s overall performance. Furthermore, when these chains weave together, sometimes even the chemical reactions further strengthen the material’s properties.

Schematic illustration of the COF structure, polymers, and nanofibrils courtesy of Science Magazine / UC Berkeley

In 2016, Yaghi Research Group, led by UC Berkeley’s Professor of Chemistry Omar Yaghi, realized the first molecularly woven structure by interlacing the backbone of the framework in a 3D space. These molecular woven COF crystals are tough but extremely flexible, as every atom has a high degree of freedom to move around but is also locked in place, and as a whole the woven crystals are able to dissipate energy during stress to prevent fracture.

Today, together with Ting Xu, Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science & Engineering; and Rob Ritchie, Professor of Materials Science & Engineering, the lab is now leveraging both the porosity and molecular weaving to make polymer composites stronger, tougher, and more resistant to fracture by threading polymer strands through the woven network. Their findings have been published in a paper by Science.

“This is exciting because most filler materials enhance one mechanical property at the detriment of another,” said Ephraim Neumann, a PhD candidate at the College of Chemistry working at the Yaghi Research Group. Neumann is sharing his first authorship with joint student of Xu and Ritchie, Junpyo (Patrick) Kwon, who graduated (PhD) last year from UC Berkeley.

But why are COFs themselves so useful to everyday life? One example is that due to their exceptional porosity, COFs are used extensively in storing and separating gases such as hydrogen and methane. Both hydrogen and methane are clean energy carriers that can be used in fuel cells and combustion engines. Storing them enables their use in transportation and power generation without producing harmful emissions.

Now, thanks to this new research that suggests polymer composites can be made more durable, the applications and uses have wider implications.

“When we add a small amount (1%) of these woven COF crystals to other materials such as polymer or plastic in this case, the materials become significantly tougher and can have a high tolerance for damages and fractures. This could have a huge impact on the materials industry,” said Yaghi.

For example, polyimide, found in almost every laptop and electrical wiring, was one of the investigated polymers in this study. By adding woven COF nanocrystals, the team was able to improve the mechanical performance of the polymer without compromising its thermal stability. This suggests this technique could lead to longer lifetimes for these composites. “Or if the material becomes more resilient, one could use less of it to achieve the same result,” hypothesized Neumann. Polyimide can also be found in the solar sails used by NASA, as it is often used as a support material that lends thermal and mechanical durability to many applications.

“Many properties of plastic products rely on polymer chain entanglements,” said Xu. “My favorite analogy is how an angel hair pasta and a bowtie pasta may respond to a swirl in the plate. Adding nanoparticles of these crystalline COFs can template how these long chains may arrange spatially and get the whole plate to work together. It also becomes feasible to pull out the chains, separate out polymers from COF nanoparticles and do the process again from scratch.”

When thinking about how this might affect industries beyond materials, Neumann concluded, “While this discovery focuses on specific polymers, the basic concept of using porous, molecularly woven COFs to enhance mechanical properties could be extended to many other materials.”

Source: UC Berkeley

You can offer your link to a page which is relevant to the topic of this post.

[y2fear]

The role of covalent organic frameworks in advancing alkaline ion batteries