Nanoporous Materials

Nanoporous inorganic-organic hybrid materials possess advantages of both types of chemistry. The complex inorganic oxide framework contributes to the stability and functionality through the potential to include metal centers, with their own particular magnetic, electronic, and catalytic properties. The organic component, through careful choice of its structure and the functional groups present, enables the functionality and the overall framework architecture of the material to be fine-tuned. Hybrid materials differ from nanoporous inorganic materials in terms of the dimensionality of the inorganic component, which usually extends in the latter in all the three-dimensions.
Nanoporous hybrid materials based on rare-earth elements may exhibit interesting luminescence and magnetic properties in addition to porosity. We have explored the synthesis of rare-earth hybrid materials comprising of various carboxylic acids: isopthalic acid, nicotinic acid, cis-4-cyclohexene-1,2-dicarboxylic acid, etc.. We have synthesized a large number of lanthanide based hybrid materials hydrothermally (~180oC) and studied them with powder x-ray diffraction, single crystals x-ray diffraction, thermogravimetry and photoluminescence.