Although generally stable, ZIFs can undergo post‐synthetic linker exchange (PSLE) in solution under mild conditions. In this work, Joao led an international team of researchers and reported this novel, solvent‐free approach to post‐synthetic linker exchange through exposure to linker vapor. The paper can be accessed here or on the Publications page of our website.

This year, seven brilliant and dynamic M. Sc. students from the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering join the group for their master thesis projects. (top, L-R) Jochen, Emilie, Laura, Jonas, (bottom, L-R), Jorid, Margot, and Dieter will be working on different projects on new deposition technologies for metal-organic framework thin films and their applications in gas sensing and membrane technologies, as well as 3D-printed platforms for catalysis and point-of-care diagnostics. We are so enthused to welcome our biggest batch of students (so far!) and we are looking forward to having fun in the lab (and in the cleanroom) with these kiddos!

With 100 participants from different synchrotron users, Alex's poster, entitled, "*An integrated cleanroom process for the deposition of large-area MOFs", was chosen as the Best Poster in the recently concluded workshop at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble.

Collaborative work on the *role of structural defects in the adsorption and separation of C3 hydrocarbons in Zr-fumarate-MOF (MOF-801)* is now published in ACS Chemistry of Materials. Led by Llwellyn's Group in Marseille, this work was made possible by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Innovative Training Network, DEFNET (DEFect NETwork Materials Science and Engineering), a trans-European consortium of 9 academic institutions and 7 partner organizations. We are happy to be part of this collaboration! Check out this paper through this [link][1] or in the [Publications][2] tab of our site. [1]: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemmater.9b02322 [2]: http://amelootgroup.org/publications/

We are delighted to announce that we are one of the 62 European Research Council (ERC) grant holders who received a Proof of Concept grant, "LO-KMOF - Vapour-deposited metal-organic frameworks as high-performance gap-filling dielectrics for nanoelectronics”, which builds on the ERC 2016 Starting grant “VAPORE - Vapor deposition of crystalline porous solids".

Our Cu-MOF-CVD paper, entitled, "Vapour-phase deposition of oriented copper dicarboxylate metal-organic framework thin films", is ChemComm's front cover for September 2019 issue.

Our work on the vapor-deposited zeolitic imidazolate frameworks as gap-filling ultra-low-k dielectrics has now been published in Nature Communications. Here we report a strategy for the integration of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as gap-filling low-k dielectrics in advanced on-chip interconnects. The proposed strategy is validated for thin films of the zeolitic imidazolate frameworks ZIF-8 and ZIF-67, formed in 2-methylimidazole vapor from ALD ZnO and native CoOx, respectively. Both materials show a Young’s modulus and dielectric constant comparable to state-of-the-art porous organosilica dielectrics.

Together with the groups of Paolo Falcaro and Roland Resel (TU Graz, Austria), we expanded the scope of materials which can be deposited as thin films by MOF-CVD to Cu-MOFs. The orientation of the films was investigated by synchrotron measurements at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. Our study was accepted for publication in ChemComm. Following a typical MOF-CVD protocol thin Cu and CuO precursor layers were deposited from the vapor phase and subsequently reacted with vaporized 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (H2BDC) or trans-1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid (H2CDC). The resulting CuBDC and CuCDC films have an out-of-plane orientation with pore channels perpendicular to the surface, hence readily accessible for guest molecules as proven by QCM measurements.

While some are headed to the beach or a quiet villa for their summer holidays, some members of the Ameloot Group chose to do it the other way around. Nathalie traveled to Lake Como in Italy to join the 1st International School on Advanced Porous Materials (MOFSchool) and learned about shaping metal- and covalent-organic frameworks into next-generation materials. The MOFSchool, jointly organized by the Universities of Insubria, Milano La Statale, and Granada, has made a great effort to encourage the participation of young, enthusiastic scientists from all over the world, and invited big names in the field as lecturers. Rob was also there to present our group's work on MOFs entitled: "From the lab to the fab: bringing MOFs into microelectronics" *spot the tallest guy in the photo below :)* Meanwhile, Alex went to Albuquerque in New Mexico to join the 2019 edition of the US Particle Accelerator School. This fully-funded workshop is an academically rigorous graduate-level program that provides training and workforce development in the S&T of particle accelerators and associated systems. International participation from various backgrounds (materials science, medicine, physics, and engineering) gathered for this week-long workshop. Both Nathalie and Alex were competitively selected from hundreds of application on the basis of their potential in their respective fields. More info on MOFSchool (https://mofs.lakecomoschool.org/) and USPAS (http://uspas.fnal.gov/)

Alex once again showcased the power of MOFs before an interdisciplinary audience at Infineon Technologies in Austria. With this year's theme "Chip of the Future", Alex together with 7 other PhD students from Europe presented their research topic in a form of a short pitch to their peers, professors, and industry experts. The jury was convinced that the "dog's nose in your smartphones - next-generation gas sensors" was the best pitch among the finalists. Infineon Technologies organized the PhD pitch as a part of the Winter School 2019 which took place in their manufacturing site in Villach from February 28 to March 1.