Thesis Dissertation Defense

Organic based polymer materials have an abundance of potential applications due to the ability to tailor their molecular components and network topology. The experimental work featured in this thesis focuses on a small selection of quasi-2D materials within two subclasses of these polymers, metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs). Both are porous networks of organic molecules linked together by metal ions (MOFs) or covalent bonds (COFs). In layered 3D variants, this porosity grants the material an impressive internal surface area available for catalysis, gas storage, and molecular separations. In 2D, the organic molecular network produces a variety of electronic structures, with pi-bonding molecular orbitals predicted to create both Dirac bands and flat bands. This work presents studies of the atomic and electronic structure of these materials by ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) scanning probe microscopy (SPM).