Supercritical CO2-induced anti-nanoconfinement effect to obtain novel 2D structures.

Abstract

Space confined reactions have emerged as a viable strategy for achieving important and fascinating properties in functional materials. Various scaffolds have been reported so far for confinement and it gives rise to the phenomenon of nanoconfinement, where the energetics and kinetics of catalytic reactions can be modulated upon confining the catalysts in a particular site. Although various systems have been reported so far for confinement, emphasis has been placed on the concept of space confinement, and the changes in the confined space itself are neglected. Strikingly, this critical issue would be touched on and revealed by supercritical CO2 (SC CO2) that is used in confined geometries. Herein, we define the structural changes of confined spaces induced by SC CO2 as an anti-nanoconfinement effect, which can bring about a series of variations together with electronic band and structural transformation. Moreover, progress in the design and applications of the anti-nanoconfinement effect is traced, and there is a discussion of emerging issues that have yet to be explored to achieve a future direction to develop more novel two-dimensional (2D) structures.