Full name: LIU Qi
Position: Associate Professor
Address: 701-1243, 199 Ren’ai Road, Suzhou, 215123, Jiangsu, China
Email:qi.liu@suda.edu.cn
Education and Work experience
2007.09-2011.06, BSc, Department of Chemistry, Hubei University
2011.09-2014.06, MSc, Department of Chemistry, Fuzhou University
2014.09-2017.06, PhD, Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University
2017.07-2018.12, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University
2019.01-2023.02, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Laboratory of Advanced Separations, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
2023.03-now, Associate Professor, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University
Research experience
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), as a type of crystalline porous material, have significant application value in areas such as adsorption and separation, catalysis, sensing, luminescence, etc. Among them, the important research topic in MOF studies is how to achieve functional-oriented design to effectively enhance material performance and establish the structure-performance relationship of MOFs. I have been devoted to the design of MOF structures and the research of gas separation membranes, and has developed a novel research method for creating and designing the structure of MOF components including metals, ligands, and pores. My research spans from the design and creation of crystal structures to the fine-tuning of MOF gas separation membrane structures and morphologies. This has resulted in the effective improvement of MOF material performance and the exploration of efficient gas separation using novel MOF membranes. I have published 22 research papers, including Nature Mater, JACS, Angew, AFM, etc. I have led a China Postdoctoral Fund project and a Special Fund project. Additionally, I have filed for 2 Chinese invention patents (both granted), as well as 1 U.S. and 1 European invention patent. I received awards such as the National Scholarship for Graduate Students in 2013, the Fuzhou University Outstanding Graduate Student Scholarship in 2013, and the Wuhan University Graduate Student Academic Innovation Award in 2017, etc.
During the pursuit of a doctoral degree at Wuhan University (with Professor Deng Hexiang), I addressed challenges in the specificity and functionalization-directed design of MOF structures. By modifying and designing the components of MOFs, including metal nodes, organic ligands, and pore structures, I proposed structural design concepts such as precise control of metal distribution in multi-variate MOFs (MTV-MOF), linker splitting for constructing large-pore structures, and introduction of metal coordination sites via pore defects. These innovations enhanced the catalytic, adsorption, and sensing properties of MOF materials.
While conducting postdoctoral research at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) (with Professor Kumar Varoon Agrawal), I tackled challenges in the formation of MOF gas separation membranes. Building upon structural research, I proposed a controlled growth strategy for large-area MOF gas separation membranes. By establishing a structure-property relationship between MOF structures and performance, efficient gas separation studies were conducted, bridging the gap from structural research to practical applications of MOFs. This work promoted the development of MOF gas separation membranes towards ultrathin and low-grain-boundary directions.
Research area
The structural design, construction, characterization and application of photo-sensitive crystalline porous materials and ultra-thin films/membranes.
ORCID ID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9377-8529.
Selected publications(+Co-first author, * Corresponding author.)
1.Q. Liu, Y. Miao, L. Villalobos, S. Li, H. Chi, C. Chen, M. Vahdat, S. Song, D. Babu, J. Hao, Y. Han, M. Tsapatsis, K. Agrawal*, Unit-cell-thick zeolitic imidazolate framework films for membrane application.Nature Mater.2023, DOI: 10.1038/s41563-023-01669-z.
2.Q. Liu, D. Babu, J. Hao, M. Vahdat, D. Campi, K. Agrawal*, Metal soap membranes for gas separation.Adv. Funct. Mater.2021, 31, 2005629.
3.Q. Liu+, Y. Song+, Y. Ma, Y. Zhou, H. Cong, C. Wang, J. Wu, G. Hu, M. O’Keeffe, H. Deng*, Mesoporous cages in chemically robust MOFs created by a large number of vertices with reduced connectivity.J. Am. Chem. Soc.2019, 141, 488-496.
4.Qi Liu, H. Cong, H. Deng*, Deciphering the spatial arrangement of metals and correlation to reactivity in multivariate metal-organic frameworks.J. Am. Chem. Soc.2016, 138, 13822-13825.
5. Y. Wang+,Q. Liu+, Q. Zhang, B. Peng, H. Deng*, Molecular vise approach to create metal-binding sites in MOFs and detection of biomarkers.Angew. Chem.2018, 130,7238 -7243.