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The Senate of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) has announced the establishment of a new Priority Programme entitled "Coordination Networks: Building Blocks for Functional Systems" (SPP 1928, COORNETs). The programme is scheduled to run for six years; the present call invites proposals for the first three-year funding period.
The specific functionalisation of interfaces and the positioning of functional nanostructures is a topic of utmost importance in the field of material sciences. Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), which are a subset of Crystalline Coordination Networks (CCNs), exhibit a unique combination of properties that have already had a landmark influence in the area of gas storage and separation. Further impact of CCNs, porous structures (i.e. MOFs) and as well dense materials, is shown by recent results within the past few years, exploiting the electrical, optical, magnetic, thermal and mechanical properties of CCNs. Through the work of various national and international research groups, the fascinating prospects of CCN-based thin films and nanostructures for opto-electronics, data storage, electro-chemistry, and sensor technologies, are tangible. The goal of the new Priority Programme COORNETs is to further strengthen the developments of these highly interdisciplinary efforts.
Aiming at producing novel functional CCN system integration requires not only tailored materials and researching methodologies for the spatially controlled deposition and positioning of CCN micro- or nanostructures at substrates. It also requires characterising the physicochemical properties of the materials, and more fundamentally, developing (further) the experimental or theoretical means for these characterisations. Advanced functions and their potentials should be explored, e.g. with regard to the construction of sensor devices and to functions in the field of molecular electronics, magnetism, photovoltaics and photo-/electrocatalysis including a fundamental understanding of the involved phenomena. Projects dealing with the synthesis, characterisation and the application of bulk properties of CCNs with the primary goals of gas storage, separation, or (thermal) catalysis and without CCN integration are explicitly to be excluded. Also, projects dealing with 2D coordination network thin films (e.g. monolayers) are not in the focus of this call.
The formation of consortia of two to three principle investigators (PIs) or research groups of complementary expertise and concentrating on a specific subject is strongly encouraged. At least one member for each proposed consortium should have already provided a significant work on CCN or related materials. Each consortium should contain research activities covering at least two of the four following thematic areas:
- Preparation and Positioning
- Structural Characterisation and Physico-Chemical Properties
- Theory and Modelling
- System Integration and Function Demonstration
Consortia with proven contributions from experiment as well as from theory shall be given highest priority. The integration of independent young researcher groups in the consortia is greatly encouraged.

Contact:
Professor Dr. Roland A. Fischer
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Fakultät für Chemie und Biochemie, Anorganische Chemie II -
Lehrstuhl für Organometallics & Materials Chemistry
Universitätsstraße 150
44801 Bochum
phone: +49 234 32-24174
fax: +49 234 32-14174
e-mail: roland.fischer@rub.de (christof.woell@kit.edu)

Further Information:
http://www.dfg.de/foerderung/info_wissenschaft/info_wissenschaft_15_31/index.html