(August 28, 2015) A
new method of manufacturing glass could lead to the production of ‘designer
glasses’ with applications in advanced photonics, whilst also facilitating
industrial scale carbon capture and storage. An international team of
researchers, writing today in the journal Nature Communications, report how
they have managed to use a relatively new family of sponge-like porous
materials to develop new hybrid glasses.
The work revolves around a family of compounds called
metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which are cage-like structures consisting of
metal ions, linked by organic bonds. Their porous properties have led to
proposed application in carbon capture, hydrogen storage and toxic gas
separations, due to their ability to selectively adsorb and store pre-selected
target molecules, much like a building a sieve which discriminates not only on
size, but also chemical identity.
However, since their discovery a quarter of a century ago,
their potential for large-scale industrial use has been limited due to
difficulties in producing linings, thin films, fibrous or other 'shaped' structures
from the powders produced by chemical synthesis. Such limitations arise from
the relatively poor thermal and mechanical properties of MOFs compared to
materials such as ceramics or metals, and have in the past resulted in
structural collapse during post-processing techniques such as sintering or
melt-casting.
journal reference (Open Access) >>