Speaker: Professor Paolo Falcaro, Graz University of Technology (TU Graz)

Time: Tuesday, June 24, 2025  10:30 a.m.

Venue: C3-c204, GZIC

Abstract

Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are promising materials for a variety of applications including sensing, microelectronics, and optics. Despite their exceptional functional properties, protocols for the microfabrication of MOF-based components are still underdeveloped. However, this is a key-enabling process: controlling the geometrical position, shape, and crystal orientation in micropatterns will enable the implementation of MOF materials in technologically relevant devices.

In this presentation, we will discuss recent developments in the field of oriented MOF films and patterns specific attention will be given to those procedures involving the use of ceramics as precursor materials. Protocols for depositing of 3D-oriented polycrystalline Cu-based MOFs via hetero-epitaxial growth from Cu-based ceramics will be presented. A recent strategy that enables the expansion to photolithography for the microfabrication of 3D-oriented MOF patterns will be examined.

Biography

Prof. Falcaro is a European Research Council Consolidator Awardee and holds a full professorship in Bio-based Technology and Materials at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) in Graz,Austria. He received his PhD in Materials Engineering in 2006 from a joint program between the Universities of Padova and Bologna, Italy, and subsequently worked as a researcher in applied research at Nanofab in Venice, Italy, until 2009.  

In 2009, he moved to The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Melbourne, Australia, as a post-doc. There, he advanced to a group leader and team leader, supervising an interdisciplinary group focused on the development of porous materials such as Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) particles and coatings. In 2015, he became a guest professor at Osaka Prefecture University, and in 2016, he was awarded an adjunct professorship at the University of Adelaide, Australia.  

Since 2016, Prof. Falcaro has led an international research team at TU Graz, focusing on two key areas:

1. Fabrication of oriented MOF films and patterns with anisotropic properties

2. Preparation of MOF-based biocomposites for applications in sensing, biocatalysis, and drug delivery

Additionally, he co-leads the multidisciplinary consortium 'Porous Materials at Work for Sustainability' (PMWS) at TU Graz. Since 2024, he has served as the Head of the Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry. He has acted as an associate editor for Chemical Engineering Journal and guest editor for a special issue of Journal of Material Chemistry A on functional frameworks. Currently, he is a member of the advisory board for CrystEngComm.