Effects of Pore Connectivity on the Sorption of Fluids in Nanoporous Material: Ethane and CO2 Sorption in Silicalite

Adsorption of fluids in nanoporous materials is important for several applications including gas storage and catalysis. The pore network in natural, as well as engineered, materials can exhibit different degrees of connectivity between pores. While this might have important implications for the sorption of fluids, the effects of pore connectivity are seldom addressed in the studies of fluid sorption. We have carried out Monte Carlo simulations of the sorption of ethane and CO2 in silicalite, a nanoporous material characterized by sub-nanometer pores of different geometries (straight and zigzag channel like pores), with varied degrees of pore connectivity. The variation in pore connectivity is achieved by selectively blocking some pores by loading them with methane molecules that are treated as a part of the rigid nanoporous matrix in the simulations. Normalized to the pore space available for adsorption, the magnitude of sorption increases with a decrease in pore connectivity. The increased adsorption in the systems where pore connections are removed by blocking them is because of additional, albeit weaker, adsorption sites provided by the blocker molecules. By selectively blocking all straight or zigzag channels, we find differences in the absorption behavior of guest molecules in these channels.

Diffusion Research with Nanoporous Material

Owing to their potential for eco-friendly matter upgrading by molecular sieving and shape-selective conversion, nanoporous materials are among the pioneers of green chemistry. The performance of their application is often controlled by diffusion, i.e. the rate of mass transfer within these materials. This mass transfer, however, is rather complex and subject to numerous influences. Unambiguous diffusion measurement has thus remained a challenge to this day with errors in the interpretation of experimental data being all too common. The present feature reports the efforts of an IUPAC initiative to overcome these limitations.

Potential Application of Nanoporous Materials in Biomedical Field

Nanoporous materials are the substances having pores of size 100 nanometers in a frame work organic or inorganic substance. These substances are used in medical devices such as bioartificial organ and biosensing. Nanoporous material has also importance in the field of diagnostics. This chapter basically explains about the nanoporous material in detail along with its types. The methods of fabrication of these nanoporous material area also explained. The chapter also deals with the characterization of the materials. Moreover present application of nanoporous material such as in the field of biomedicals along with the future prospects is explained in the present chapter.

Nanospace-confined Helium Shows Four-dimensional Quantum Phase Transition (QPT)

Helium confined in a nanoporous material shows a four dimensional superfluid transition. This is a unique example of four dimensional critical phenomenon caused by strong quantum fluctuation.