Title: Coordination-Driven Self-Assembly for Energy Capture, Storage, and Use
The use of metal-ligand bonding as a driving force for self-assembly reactions enables the construction of
polynuclear architectures. Depending on the building blocks used, the resulting assemblies may be discrete
molecules or extended frameworks. The Cook Group explores coordination-driven self-assembly with an
emphasis on functional designs. By exploiting the presence of multiple metal centers and rigid organic
building blocks, it is possible to design metal-organic architectures that are capable of catalysis,
electrochemical energy storage, and separations chemistry. We have also studied the so-called
emergent properties that result when two or more photoactive building blocks interact within a
structure, to give photophysical properties that differ from the parent tectons. This talk will introduce
fundamental aspects of coordination-driven selfassembly and then will highlight our advances in the
area of oxygen reduction electrocatalysis and other processes of relevance to renewable energy.