Researchers at Queen's University Belfast have managed to create the world's first porous liquid, an invention that is being hailed as a major breakthrough. Porous materials are those that look solid to the human eye but actually contain empty space at the molecular level, . In scientific applications, they are useful as catalysts and molecular separators and are often used in industrial industries.
The liquid created in the team's study was a solution that possessed many organic "cage molecules," which are designed to enclose empty space. The final product contained hundreds of times more empty space in its molecular structure than a standard fluid such as water.
A porous liquid poses plenty of potential benefits. For example, it is ideal for soaking up methane, a dangerous greenhouse gas, and could potentially be used to create a liquid circulation system for power plants that sucks up carbon, according to a press release. These benefits stem from the solution's ability to absorb large amounts of gas into its porous molecular structure.
"A few more years' research will be needed, but if we can find applications for these porous liquids they could result in new or improved chemical processes," said Stuart James, co-author of the study. "At the very least, we have managed to demonstrate a very new principle - that by creating holes in liquids we can dramatically increase the amount of gas they can dissolve. These remarkable properties suggest interesting applications in the long term."
The study was published in the journal Nature.
