What is it about?

Zeolites are materials having regular pores, in which molecules can enter and react. For this reason, zeolites can be used as “moulds” for creating new materials with a given regular shape. We have found that, under high pressure, organic molecules in zeolite pores can react with each other, producing short polymers. These polymers have different optical properties than the starting molecules, as indicated by the change in color of the recovered sample.

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Why is it important?

This work shows that chemical reactions induced by pressure in zeolite pores could lead to new materials with properties very different from the starting molecules. In perspective, these materials could be exploited for applications such as gas sensors and solar cells.

Perspectives

Our next step will be to try obtaining a linear conducting polymer using smaller molecules and a zeolite with a low content of framework defects.

Gloria Tabacchi
university of insubria

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: High-silica mordenite as scaffold for phenylacetylene polymerization: In situ high pressure investigation, Microporous and Mesoporous Materials, June 2020, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.micromeso.2020.110163.
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