Mesoporous materials assemble like Tinkertoys

Abstract

Canadian scientists have developed a new class of mesoporous materials, based on germanium sulfides, with potentially interesting and useful electronic and optical properties. Not only are the materials a step up in pore size from already well-known microporous metal sulfide materials—freeing scientists from the prison of 10 A, their creators say—but they are also in some ways analogous to popular mesoporous oxide materials. Chemistry professor Geoffrey A. Ozin, electron microscopist Neil Coombs, and graduate student Mark J. MacLachlan at the University of Toronto synthesized the new materials, which can have pore sizes up to 100 A [ Nature , 397, 681 (1999)]. Nobody has done this before, says John Parise, a chemistry professor at State University of New York, Stony Brook. This represents a genuine breakthrough. Mesoporous oxides have been the focus of much research, from the exploration of their catalytic properties to their waste-removing abilities, since Mobil Technology chemist Charles T. Kresge...