Scientists Invent A Liquid With Holes In It
Artist's impression of porous liquid Queen's University Belfast You've heard of holy water, but what about hole-y water? In a paper published this week in Nature, researchers announced that they have developed a liquid with its molecules structured in such a way that they have 'holes' within the liquid. Picture a sponge that can flow like water, and you'll have a general idea of what they've managed to create. “Materials which contain permanent holes, or pores, are technologically important. They are used for manufacturing a range of products from plastic bottles to petrol. However, until recently, these porous materials have been solids. What we have done is to design a special liquid from the ‘bottom up’ – we designed the shapes of the molecules which make up the liquid so that the liquid could...