16th Early Stage Researchers Workshop in Nanoscience

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Keynote talk
Abstract

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Biography

Ferry obtained an MSc (with distinction) from Leiden University in 2007 working on the design and synthesis of molecular magnetic materials under the guidance of Prof. Jan Reedijk. In 2011 he obtained his PhD from the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University of Technology under the supervision of Prof. Herre van der Zant. For his PhD thesis, he worked on the development of single-molecule and nanoparticle-based electronic devices. He then joined the group of Prof. William Tisdale at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the beginning of 2012, where he led a small team of PhD students on spectroscopic studies of exciton dynamics in nanomaterial assemblies. In 2014 he joined the Optical Materials Engineering Laboratory of Prof. David Norris at ETH Zurich, where he started his independent research career in 2015 thanks to funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation. In further recognition, he was promoted to the position of Lecturer (Dozent) by the Rectorate of ETH Zurich in 2016. In spring 2017 he accepted an offer to expand his research group at the Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC) of the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.

Metal-organic frameworks beyond crystallinity

Keynote talk
Abstract

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are traditionally designed and understood through their crystalline structures. However, loss of long-range order does not necessarily imply loss of chemical or structural complexity. Amorphous MOFs, melt-quenched MOF glasses and MOF-based glass composites provide an emerging platform in which local coordination motifs can be retained while long-range periodicity is removed, opening new possibilities for processing, interfaces and functionality.

In this contribution, I will discuss our recent work exploring MOFs beyond crystallinity, from controlled amorphisation to melting and glass formation. Particular attention will be given to how linker chemistry, metal coordination and framework topology determine access to the liquid state, and how these parameters may ultimately enable a more predictive design of meltable hybrid frameworks. I will also introduce strategies in which MOF glasses are combined with inorganic glasses to create structurally complex composites and hierarchical amorphous materials, where interfaces and selective post-processing generate functionality that cannot be achieved from either component alone.

Together, these results highlight disorder not as the endpoint of framework degradation, but as a new structural degree of freedom. Understanding and controlling local and medium-range order may therefore provide a route towards a broader family of processable hybrid glasses and composites with tunable structural, mechanical and functional properties.

Biography

Dr Celia Castillo-Blas is an Atraccion de Talento Fellow at the Institute of Materials Science of Madrid (ICMM-CSIC), where she develops an independent research line on structurally disordered porous and hybrid materials. She obtained her PhD at ICMM-CSIC and subsequently carried out postdoctoral research at the Autonomous University of Madrid and the University of Cambridge, including a visiting period at the University of Jena. Her research combines reticular chemistry with advanced structural characterisation, with particular emphasis on defects, amorphisation, melting and glass formation in metal–organic frameworks and related hybrid materials. She makes extensive use of synchrotron and neutron total scattering, Pair Distribution Function analysis and spectroscopy to understand structure beyond crystallinity. In 2026, she was awarded an ERC Starting Grant to develop predictive approaches for the design of functional hybrid glasses.