Dr. Eugeny Alexandrov, the researcher of Samara Center for Theoretical Materials Science, came back from the long-term scientific visit to Milan (Italy). During April 1 - May 29, 2016, he has been working at the Laboratory of Prof. Lucia Carlucci at the University of Milan.Eugeny is a specialist in coordination polymers and knowledge-based methods in crystal chemistry and materials science. He provided the laboratory researchers with valuable support in experimental study of multi-layer materials, in particular, exfoliation of metal-organic frameworks. The coordination polymers exfoliation into nanosheets is a new challenge in crystal engineering and nanochemistry. Such nanosheets being promising materials for catalysts, sensors, molecular sieves, etc. are still poorly studied. Thus, the main task for scientists is to learn how to obtain nanosheets of metal-organic frameworks and explore their useful properties. SCTMS scientific advisor Prof. Davide Proserpio involved Eugeny Alexandrov in this new research area.
Eugeny analyzed scientific literature and developed theoretical background for the experimental work. He predicted ability to exfoliate for eighteen crystalline substances. Eight of them were studied by routine exfoliation technique, and for all of them stable nanosheets were obtained. Characteristics of such nanosheets will be further studied at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (Japan) by means of the atomic force spectroscopy, one of the methods that allows analyzing surface atomic structure without their destruction.
Prof. Proserpio, Dr. Eugeny Alexandrov, Prof. Lucia Carlucci and Atsushi Kondo (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology) plan to prepare joint research paper.