Novel Structures Promise Better Separations

摘要

A PROCESS described as "reverse fossilization" produces porous structures capable of high efficiency separations, report researchers at the WPI Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences at Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. The process (Figure 1) starts with the creation of a mesoscopic-size shaped mineral template via a sol-gel process. Through the action of organic ligands, porous coordination polymer (PCP) crystals replace the metal oxide (the researchers used alumina), retaining the lattice structure. The PCP crystals contain both organic and mineral components.