Liquids flow. Solids have holes. Until recently, you had to pick one or the other. But researchers from Queen's University Belfast have created something that is both: a liquid with permanent pores. This new class of material, published in Nature, could open entirely new ways of separating gases, filtering chemicals, and running industrial processes.
A porous molecular cage (left) dissolves in a special solvent (center) to create a permanently porous liquid (right). Credit: Nature
What Makes It Porous?
Normal liquids have microscopic gaps between molecules, but these are tiny and constantly shifting. Porous solids like zeolites have fixed, structured holes great for trapping specific molecules. The problem is that solids cannot flow, pump, or coat surfaces. The team solved this by dissolving specially designed "cage" molecules — hollow molecular structures with permanent internal cavities — into a solvent chosen specifically because its molecules are too large to enter the cage pores. The result is a liquid where the holes stay open permanently.
Why Does It Matter?
- Gas separation: Sorting gas molecules by size, useful for purifying natural gas or capturing CO2.
- Catalysis: Chemical reactions inside the pores give chemists a new type of liquid reactor.
- Flow systems: Unlike solids, this material can be pumped through pipes or applied as a film.
The main challenge ahead is cost, but the team is already working on making the process more scalable. This is one of those materials that sounds like science fiction — but is very much real.
Source: Chemical & Engineering News | DOI: 10.1038/nature16072
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