Novel porous materials made from flexible "spaghetti-like" molecules
Wednesday, July 27, 2016 - 07:41
in Physics & Chemistry
Known for their extraordinary surface area, a sugar packet equivalent of metal-organic framework provides a city block (2.5 acres) of area to absorb gas or catalyze reactions. The challenge comes in consistently manufacturing these frameworks, known as MOFs. Scientists changed our understanding of MOFs. They uprooted the belief that these frameworks must be made from rigid starting materials. Their new design strategy transformed flexible one-dimensional molecular chains, called polymers, into three-dimensional porous structures by incorporating the flexible polymers into the synthesis of MOFs.