Development of micro- and mesoporous materials for environmental and bio-applications

Development of micro- and mesoporous materials for environmental and bio-applications
Ocean Cheung

Porous materials, such as zeolites, metal-organic framework (MOFs) and mesoporous silica offer a wide range of functionalities that are interesting for a broad spectrum of applications. This presentation will explore and summarise our approaches used in materials synthesis and optimisation. The presentation will be divided into two sections:
1.) Mesoporous inorganic carbonates are a relatively new class of mesoporous materials. Mesoporous magnesium carbonate and mesoporous calcium carbonate were both first synthesised at Uppsala University by our group. These mesoporous carbonates have interesting structural properties that make them interesting candidate carrier materials for poorly soluble active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). The high specific surface area meant that these mesoporous materials can be surface functionalised. Combining pore size control and surface functionalisation, the API loading and release properties can be controlled. Apart from drug delivery, these inorganic carbonates can also perform as sorbents for azo-dyes and CO2. Finally, mesoporous inorganic carbonates can be used as a template for the synthesis of other functional porous materials such as highly porous amorphous calcium phosphate and porous carbon.
2.) Zeolites and MOFs are scientifically popular candidate adsorbents for greenhouse gases. The synthesis, characterisation and optimisation of a selection of zeolites and MOFs will be discussed. In particular, optimisation of these adsorbents by ion exchange and adjusting the linker population will be given as examples.