Themed collection The Creative World of Porous Materials

This themed issue, dedicated to François Fajula, includes the latest achievements in the field of ordered porous solids, which is among the most creative, fascinating and attractive fields of chemistry.

Recent developments in molecular surface engineering inside the confined space of porous materials are surveyed including a new nomenclature proposal.

The methods for integrating an additional pore system in glass-based monoliths are reviewed with an emphasis on sintering and pseudomorphic transformation routes.

This article reviews the results obtained in the synthesis, characterization and applications of zeolites and related microporous materials, focusing on catalytic processes developed in Eni research laboratories over the last 40 years.

The increasing complexity of nanoporous catalysts and adsorbents presents a challenge to both the experimental measurement and theoretical modeling of transport behavior.

This review highlights the progress in designing oxide catalysts with well defined structures for dry reforming of methane.

This review presents the state-of-the-art of multiscale adsorption and transport in hierarchical porous materials.

Nature-inspired structuring at the meso-scale: broad macropores separate the mesoporous catalyst grains.

Pore-level simulations of flow and mass transport validate the morphological measures of efficiency, which show potential for guiding the rational design of materials.

This review describes a design concept of novel amphiphilic molecules for a one-step preparation of hierarchically porous zeolites containing mesopores with certain orders.

The most attractive achievements in the research area of layered zeolites are summarized, including synthesis, modification strategies and catalytic applications. The challenges for future research on these types of porous materials are also proposed.

Giant structural flexibility is a characteristic of organic–inorganic frameworks. This perspective describes its history, its behaviours, the analysis of its structural reasons at its consequences in terms of properties and applications.

Recent strategies for the design of zeolites with unusual architectures and porosities offer many opportunities for the encapsulation of catalysts.

Alkaline-assisted stannation comprises a scalable one-pot method to incorporate tin centres with a Lewis-acid character in beta zeolite for the isomerisation of renewables.

Depending on the synthetic conditions (surfactant, acid, base, and presence or absence of TEOS), the sol–gel polymerization of functionalized polyorganosiloxane affords various textured silica-based materials.

Carbonic anhydrase and horseradish peroxidase are immobilized inside the ordered material by click reactions. Colorimetric assays prove their catalytic activity.

A model of therapeutic nanovectors was developed for creating original prodrug@Fe₂O₃@porous silica architectures. Fe₂O₃ catalytic and magnetic properties were used for controlling the kinetics of drug release.

Calcining mechanical mixtures of TiO₂ and AuPPh₃Cl generates Au/TiO₂ nanocomposites with strong Au–TiO₂ interaction and high solar light activity.

Conversion of ethene on selected zeolites structures allowed for high selectivities for propene and butenes.

Isomers of bis-(trimethoxysilyl)arenes were synthesized and used as organosilica precursors for the preparation of macro-mesoporous hybrid silica monoliths.

2D-EXSY and PFG ¹²⁹Xe NMR provide a powerful means for probing tortuosity and pore connectivity in bimodal alumina catalysts.

Polymeric forms of eco-friendly oleyl diamine surfactant intercalated in silica are effective in binding Cu(II) and Pb(II) from aqueous solution.

A narrow pore zeolite was synthesized with different Si/Al ratios and micro- to nanoparticle size where both played an important role in CO₂ adsorption.

3D hierarchical porous ZSM-5 zeolite as a catalytic material for the cracking of n-hexadecane is reported.

Sn-BEA synthesis in concentrated gels results in 2.5–4 fold reduction of crystallization time and formation of smaller zeolite crystals.

TiO₂–SiO₂ composites with 44 wt% of anatase exhibit a better MO degradation rate than those with fully crystallized anatase.

Templating polycondensation of furfural and phloroglucinol by O/W emulsions stabilized by CNT-carboxymethylcellulose composite particles allowed preparing conductive and magnetic microcapsules.

Spray-dried mesoporous aluminosilicates, with spherical morphology, high surface area and accessible porosity, have been synthesized under mild acidic aqueous conditions by using different aluminum precursors.

Synthesizing core–shell particles SiO₂@mSiO₂, mSiO₂ and Au@SiO₂ in a continuous tubular segmented reactor.

The first successful example of Hg porosimetry on KIT-6 silicas is demonstrated. This study provides a more thorough understanding of the textural properties of the mesostructures of KIT-6 and SBA-15 silicas.

The extreme diminution of the crystallite size increases accessibility of Brønsted acid sites but decreases their strength.

An IWW-type zeolite was formed using azonia-spiro[4,4]nonane as a template. This material shows low Ge-content and can be further degermanated.

The fusion of lipid bilayers in sponge silica–lecithin composites is favoured by natural cosurfactants-induced local opposite curvatures.

This review provides an overview of the use of foam-structured SiC as a porous support platform in some typical catalytic processes both for gas-phase and liquid-phase reactions, such as H₂S selective oxidation, Friedel–Crafts benzoylation and Fischer–Tropsch synthesis.

The work aims at exploring the role of pore structure, texture and morphology of various DGA-functionalized mesoporous silica materials on their rare earth element (REE) adsorption performances, both in batch and flow-through systems.

Embryonic ZSM-5 zeolites have more accessible microporosity than their zeolite offsprings and are therefore better catalysts to convert bulky molecules.

The reversible dissociation of NH₄⁺ ions in the intra-cages of zeolites is correlated with their catalytic reactivity for HMF etherification.

Properties of methylene blue modified by incorporation in the large pores of LTL and BEA type zeolites, and stabilization on the external surface of small pore LTA type zeolite.

Activities in thiophene hydrodesulfurization were increased by a factor three when using aluminas, as support for CoMo catalysts, prepared using an optimized sol–gel method.

A systematic study of the effect of the mesopore diameter of silica monoliths with hierarchical porosity (meso-/macroporosity) on charge transport of confined ionic liquid with lithium salt shows an optimum for mesopore of 10 nm diameter.

A twofold (black, red) interpenetrated network of a Zn(Gly-L-Phe)₂ coordination polymer, with hydrogen bonds (green) between neighboring layers.

This paper describes a detailed investigation on SAPO-34 synthesis templated by isomeric amines and the catalytic performances in the MTO reaction.

Highly stable, high pressure n-pentane conversion on H-[Al]ZSM-5 yields C₃ and C₄ alkanes and heavier hydrocarbons to balance H/C ratio.

The incoherent signal in neutron diffraction patterns allows correlating in real time hydration–dehydration levels and structural changes in zeolites.

Particle and surfactant-stabilized emulsion droplets formed in situ serve as templates for hollow silica nanoparticle growth.

Highly crystalline zeolites with intracrystalline mesopores are synthesized through a straightforward and feasible templating method.

Uniform mesopores are generated in hierarchical ZSM-5 by a mesopore narrowing treatment, showing enhanced activity in the acylation of 2-methoxynaphthalene.

Different approaches are applied and compared, which are universally applicable to quantify pore coordination, pore and pore-throat connectivity, and geometric tortuosity.

Complementary techniques elucidate water–framework interactions in different states of dehydration, two of which have not been observed before.

Ordered mesoporous Ni/TiO₂–C composites with highly dispersed nickel and TiO₂ nanoparticles have been synthesized via a multi-component co-assembly method.

Co/mesoHZSM-5 pretreatment in different atmospheres changes FT activity and CH₄ selectivity by affecting Co dispersion and reducibility.

Four crystallographically distinct N,N′-di-isopropyl-imidazolium cations, fluoride anions and water molecules fill the channels of the zincoaluminophosphate Zn-DAF-1.

A new hierarchically porous titanium phosphate monolithic material is synthesized via a sol–gel method and its crystallization in ethylene glycol is observed.

Ethylene is converted into propylene by one-pot cascade reactions over catalysts prepared using a commercial mesoporous non-ordered silica as a support.

Al-rich MTW zeolites show large pore accessibility, high Brönsted acidity and high activity for the cracking of n-decane.

K-CHA nanocrystals prepared by a beadmilling and postmilling-recrystallization for high performance base-catalysis.