T. K. Maji's Group - Molmat Lab

⏳ Countdown starts for M*FES’26!
We are delighted to announce that M*FES’26 – International Conference on Metal-Organic Frameworks and Porous Organic Polymers for Energy and Sustainability is fast approaching and is set to be a historic milestone for the porous materials community.
📍 Venue: Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru
🗓 Dates: January 12–15, 2026
🌍 Why M*FES’26 is truly special
🔹 First time in India: A dedicated, large-scale international conference exclusively focused on M*Fs, COFs, and POPs
🔹 300+ participants, including ~200 students and young researchers
🔹 ~80 high-quality talks by leading global experts, industry leaders, and representatives from major scientific journal publishing houses
🔹 A unique platform connecting fundamental science, technology, industry, and publishing
A Historic Moment for M*Fs
M*FES’26 is being organized at a defining moment for materials chemistry, following the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recognizing the pioneering contributions to Metal-Organic Frameworks (M*Fs). This global recognition has firmly established M*Fs as transformative materials for energy, environment, sustainability, and beyond. M*FES’26 aims to celebrate this achievement while shaping the future roadmap of the field.
Scientific Focus Areas
M*Fs, COFs, and porous materials for:
• Gas capture, separation, and storage
• Catalysis and CO₂ conversion
• Hydrogen generation and energy storage
• Sustainability-driven technologies and emerging applications
🔗 Conference Website:
👉 https://www.mofes26.com
M*FES’26 is envisioned as a vibrant forum for scientific exchange, mentorship, and collaboration, with a strong emphasis on empowering young researchers and strengthening academia–industry–publishing partnerships, positioning India prominently on the global M*F research map.
JNCASR

*FES26 *Fs

Check out our recent article on post-synthetic charge transfer complexation regulated ion gating in M*F-808 published in Journal of American Chemical Society (JACS). Congratulations to the authors!!

Modular Gating of Ion Transport by Postsynthetic Charge Transfer Complexation in a Metal–Organic Framework Nature’s design of biological ion channels that demonstrates efficient gating and selectivity brings to light a very promising model to mimic and design for achieving selective and tunable ion transport. Functionalized nanopores that permit modulation of the pore wall charges are a compelling appr...

Developing Post-Modified Ce-M*F as Photocatalyst: A Detail Mechanistic insight of CO2 Reduction towards Selective C2 Product Formation Visible light-driven C-C bond formation to produce C2-based liquid fuel selectively from CO2 is of great interest and remains a challenging task due to uphill electron transfer kinetics. Herein, we have developed [Ru(bpy)2]2+ grafted UiO-66-bpydc Ce-M*F via post-synthetic modification to harvest vis...

Check out our new feature article on charge transfer in metal-organic frameworks out in Chemical Communications. 😇

Charge transfer in metal–organic frameworks Metal–organic frameworks (M*Fs, also known as porous coordination polymers or PCPs) are a novel class of crystalline porous material. The tailorable porous structure, in terms of size, geometry and function, has attracted the attention of researchers across all disciplines of materials science. On...

In this recent article from our group published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, we have shown how post-synthetic modification of a Zr-M*F using a high triplet state linker can be employed to achieve a highly sensitive luminescent thermometer operative in a broad temperature range of 25K-400K. Congratulations to all the authors!!

Complexing Eu3+/Tb3+ in a Nanoscale Postmodified Zr-M*F toward Temperature-Modulated Multispectrum Chromism In recent years, extensive research has been directed toward the successful preparation of nanoscale luminescent thermometers with high sensitivities operative in a broad temperature range. To achieve this goal, we have devised a unique design and facile multistep synthesis of Zr-ctpy-NM*F@TbxEuy co...

Fresh from our group; an attempt towards indoor atmospheric water harvesting. The work thrives for indoor water harvesting assisted by modulated regeneration temperature, altered relative humidity, and obviously under an indoor laboratory environment.

Binary/Ternary M*F Nanocomposites for Multi‐Environment Indoor Atmospheric Water Harvesting Efficient water harvesting sorbents are prepared through an optimized blending of aminoclay and aminoclay-graphene oxide duo with CuBTC M*F towards synergistic improvements in water stability, uptake...

Here is the link to our recent publication on efficient C2H4 separation. The work unfolds specific affection for industrially important C1/C2 hydrocarbons and their attachment in the M*F pore. Great effort by Prof. Balasubramanian's group to open out the molecular level understanding for defining such a critical separation.

Tailoring a robust Al-M*F for trapping C2H6 and C2H2 towards efficient C2H4 purification from quaternary mixtures Light hydrocarbon separation is considered one of the most industrially challenging and desired chemical separation processes and is highly essential in polymer and chemical industries. Among them, separating ethylene (C2H4) from C2 hydrocarbon mixtures such as ethane (C2H6), acetylene (C2H2), and o...

Glad to share our recent review published in Coordination Chemistry Reviews. It describes our understanding of Multi-dimensional metal-organic frameworks based on mixed linkers. Here is the link

Multi-dimensional metal-organic frameworks based on mixed linkers: Interplay between structural flexibility and functionality Metal-organic frameworks (M*Fs) are regarded widely because of their intriguing structural dynamism, which sets them apart from other porous materials…

CONFINEMENT MATTERS !!!
Glad to share our recent work on post-synthetically modified M*F for confining CdS nanoparticles toward Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution.
Great experimental and essential assistance from Prof. Sukhendu Nath and Prof. Ujjal K. Gautam. Congrats to the team.

Confinement Matters: Stabilization of CdS Nanoparticles inside a Postmodified M*F toward Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Insights into developing innovative routes for the stabilization of photogenerated charge-separated states by suppressing charge recombination in photocatalysts is a topic of immense importance. Herein, we report the synthesis of a metal–organic framework (M*F)-based composite where CdS nanopartic...

Pleasant to share our work on a porphyrin-based coordination polymer gel (CPG) that has been developed for visible/sunlight-driven CO2 reduction. We envisioned that the product of CO2 reduction to CO/CH4 can be modulated by changing the sacrificial electron donor (SED).
CONGRATULATIONS to all the authors.

Visible‐Light‐Driven Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction to CO/CH4 Using a Metal–Organic “Soft” Coordination Polymer Gel A porphyrin-based coordination polymer gel (CPG) has been developed for visible/sunlight-driven CO2 reduction. Notably, the product of CO2 reduction can be modulated by changing the sacrificial elect...

The much-needed renewable alternatives to fossil fuels can be achieved efficiently and sustainably by converting solar energy to fuels via hydrogen generation from water or CO2 reduction.
Check out our strategy to contrive a soft processable metal-organic hybrid material that is developed and studied for photocatalytic activity towards H2 production and CO2 reduction to CO and CH4 under visible light as well as direct sunlight irradiation.
Great collaboration with Prof. Swapan K. Pati and Prof. Sukhendu Nath. Congratulations to all the authors.

Charge-transfer regulated visible light driven photocatalytic H2 production and CO2 reduction in tetrathiafulvalene based coordination polymer gel - Nature Communications Designing active materials for efficient photocatalysis are of great interests. Herein the authors report coordination polymer gel assembled by low molecular weight gelator as photocatalysts for visible light driven H2 production and CO2 reduction regulated by charge-transfer interactions.