MOFs are crystalline materials with highly ordered porous structures, and they have real potential for applications in gas separation, sensing, and catalysis. The catch is that most synthesis routes produce fine powders rather than large single crystals, which limits what you can do with them experimentally and practically. I'm developing solvothermal and solution-based growth approaches aimed at producing larger, better-defined MOF crystals. Besides the scientific interest, this project has sharpened my ability to adapt synthesis conditions systematically and work with materials that sit at the boundary between chemistry and solid-state physics, a useful place to be for anyone working on next-generation functional materials.