Porous material changes structure like a protein
15 Jan 2019 by Evoluted New Media
A newly developed synthesised material can change its structure to carry out specific chemical processes, much like a protein.
Using a combination of experimental and computational techniques, University of Liverpool researchers produced a flexible crystalline porous material, composed of metal ions and small peptide molecules.
The material, which has pores under 1 nanometre, can transform from one structure to another by changes in its chemical environment.
Professor Matt Rosseinsky, leader of the research, said: “These porous materials use the same atomic-scale mechanisms as proteins to switch between structures, which gives us the opportunity to develop new ways to manipulate and change molecules with synthetic materials that are inspired by biology.
“This offers exciting scientific possibilities, for example in catalysis, through the design of materials than can dynamically select the structure needed for a particular task.”
Porous materials are widely used as catalysts for production of fuels and chemicals and in environmental remediation technologies as adsorbers for the removal of harmful compounds from air and water, but these materials are rigid with just one structure.
The new material has potential to replace these, and the team is now working on next-generation functional flexible porous materials that change structure in response to changes in surrounding chemistry.
The scientists' research paper was published in Nature.
