Design of Meso- and Microporous Solids

Mesoporous solids have pores in the size range between 2 and 50 nm, microporous materials pores below 2 nm. A multitude of different micro- and mesoporous solids is known, such as silica gels or activated carbons. The activities of the group in this research area are predominantly directed towards the synthesis of micro- and mesoporous materials with ordered pore system. For the synthesis of such materials two different processes can be used: On the one hand the materials can be structured by the use of so-called templates, i.e molecules, as in zeolite synthesis, or ordered arrays of molecules in form of liquid crystals. On the other hand structuring is possible via the so called „nanocasting“, i.e. a preformed pore system is used as a mold for another material in a process which resembles a casting procedure on the macroscale.