Chapter 16 - Synthetic Chemistry of the Inorganic Ordered Porous Materials

Abstract

This chapter illustrates the ordered porous inorganic and inorganic–organic hybrid materials and discusses the new trends in their synthetic chemistry. The synthesis and property of porous material involve a lot of fundamental concepts. They have wide applications as adsorbent, catalyst, ion exchanger, energy material, environment material, life sciences, nanotechnology, etc. Open structure and high surface area (interior surface and outer surface) porous materials strengthen their catalytic and adsorption abilities. Many novel materials with desired structure and property have been developed. The inorganic porous materials include natural zeolites, synthetic zeolites (from low siliceous zeolites to high siliceous zeolites), pure silica molecular sieves, microporous phosphates, oxides (AlPO4, GeO2, etc.), and even organic–inorganic hybrid materials such as metal-organic frameworks. Porous materials are classified into microporous, mesoporous, and macroporous materials by their pore size. The pore property is the most important structural parameter for porous material. Nitrogen adsorption is one of the most important techniques in studying the surface area and porosity of porous materials. Among molecular sieves, zeolites and zeolite-like materials have occupied an extremely important position in modern material science and industry, because of their regular structures and various predictable properties. The large advantages of zeolites include: adjustability of framework composition; very high surface area and capacity of adsorption; various surfaces; and controllablity of the intensity and density of the active sites.