Disordered and Lower Dimensional Porous Materials

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This award is made in the Office of Special Projects of the Chemistry Division for continuing support of the collaborative research of Drs. Pinnavaia, Kanatzidas, Billinge, Mahanti and Thorpe at Michigan State University. Also participating is Dr. Stuart Solin of the NEC Research Institute. The research deals broadly with chemical, physical and computational aspects of ordered and lower dimensional nanoporous materials based on oxides and chalcogenides. Specific research elements that will be investigated are the synthesis of new metal oxide (silica, zirconia and titania) molecular sieves by self-assembly on neutral amine or polyethylene oxide surfactant templates; synthesis by surfactant templating, of new porous chalcogenide phases based on the pillaring of lamelear metal sulfides and selenides; experimental X-ray diffraction and computational studies of disorder and diffusion in open framework mesostructures; studies of network stiffness by c-axis X-ray diffraction and diffusion by inelastic neutron scattering of nanoporous silicate networks; and, the synthesis and characterization of magnetic transition metal layered double hydroxides. The synthetic studies of the metal oxides will lead to molecular sieves with controlled phases and morphologies ranging from hexagonal or cubic to worm-like channel motifs. The chalcogenide studies directed towards the synthesis of layered metal chalcogenide phases with metal cluster pillars will provide new semiconducting catalysts with the shape selectivity of zeolites. Nanoporous materials with pore sizes in the 1.0-10 nm range offer exciting opportunities for the rational design of adsorbents and catalysts for applications in environmental remediation, molecular separations and a variety of industrial processes based on large molecule transformations. Semiconducting nanoporous structures hold great promise for the fabrication of sensors, organic -inorganic hybrid materials and solid state devices. The properties and performance of these nanoporous materials are dominated by long and short range disorder and the dimensionality of the pore space. This combined experimental and computational study will help elucidate the fundamental chemistry and physics of these complex materials.