Title: Design and Applications of MOF/Fiber Composites with Biochemical‑Protection Functions

Speaker: Prof. Kaikai Ma (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)

Invited by: Researcher Jing Xiao

Time: September 11, 2026 (Friday), 9:30 AM

Venue: Room 105 of the Shaw Engineering Building

Organizer: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Biography

  Dr. Kaikai Ma is Assistant Professor and PhD Supervisor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, as well as a recipient of the Presidential Young Scholar Award. He received his PhD degree from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2020, and then pursued post‑doctoral research in Prof. Omar Farha’s group at Northwestern University, USA. He initiated his independent research at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2023. His long‑term research interests lie in the applications of novel MOF‑based composite materials in biochemical protection. As first or corresponding author, he has published over 40 high‑level journal papers in PNAS, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Advanced Materials, Angewandte Chemie International Edition and other journals. He regularly works as a peer reviewer for journals including JACS, Angewandte Chemie, Nature Communications, and ACS Nano. His research outputs have been highlighted and reported by Science and Technology Daily, C&EN, Physics World, ScienceDaily and other media.

 Abstract

  The outbreak of the SARS‑CoV‑2 pandemic and the abuse of toxic chemical warfare agents have highlighted an urgent need for developing high‑efficiency protective materials. Metal‑organic frameworks (MOFs) represent a class of porous crystalline materials with tunable pore structures and abundant catalytically active sites. In particular, zirconium‑based MOFs contain Lewis‑acidic sites that enable rapid catalytic hydrolysis of organophosphorus nerve agents in alkaline aqueous solutions. Meanwhile, post‑synthetic modification can introduce bactericidal moieties to realize controllable pathogen inactivation. Nevertheless, powdery MOFs can hardly be directly integrated into daily protective equipment such as face masks and protective suits, which hinders their engineering‑oriented applications. Targeting this bottleneck, our research group devotes efforts to developing practically applicable MOF/fiber composites. By loading MOFs onto fibrous substrates, reactive textiles integrating chemical detoxification and antibacterial functions are constructed. These composites possess good stability and multi‑factor protection performance under complex environments, and can efficiently capture and neutralize both chemical toxic agents and pathogens. This presentation summarizes the design concepts of such composite materials, key challenges in their fabrication, and corresponding coping strategies.

 Announced by School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.