Porous liquids – the future is looking emptier

Abstract

The realisation of permanent microporosity in liquids transforms the way functional porosity may be implemented. Considering recent advances, we explore the developing theory of porous liquids and delve into the discovery process and applications.

The effect of organic ions on the formation and collapse of nanometric bubbles in ionic liquid/water solutions: A molecular dynamics study

“…From the application point of view, long-lived cavities in the liquid phase present a number of appealing opportunities. 63 Lifetimes on the ns, or even µ scale might not be sufficient for many applications, but our results have been obtained without any optimisation in the choice of the IL compound nor of the formation and collapse conditions. Considering larger initial bubbles, more suitable ILs, and perhaps adding a jellifying third component might easily extend the lifetime of cavities into the multi-µs range that could be sufficient for novel applications.…”

“…Together with the results of the following subsections, this result shows that a suitable choice of the IL and some optimization of experimental conditions such as the frequency and the amplitude of the ultrasound wave can lead to relaxation times of the bubbles much longer than all other molecular processes in the same solution. In turn, this remark shows that, although the observations discussed in this section might be seen as minor details in the behaviour of a complex system undergoing periodic cycles of expansion and compression, they also point to potentially useful applications, 63 as discussed in the summary Sec. IV.…”

Photoresponsive Type III Porous Liquids

“…14,15 Since their conceptualisation, there have now been reports of all four types of porous liquids. 9,14,[16][17][18] While porous solids are applicable in a wide range of applications, including molecular separations and catalysis, [19][20][21] liquids have potential differentiable advantages because they can flow and might also promote more rapid heat transfer and dissipation. 22 By contrast, the porosity per unit volume for porous liquids is thus far much lower than for porous solids.…”

Shining a Light on Photoresponsive Type III Porous Liquids

“…14,15 Since their conceptualisation, there have now been reports of all four types of porous liquids. 9,14,[16][17][18] While porous solids are applicable in a wide range of applications, including molecular separations and catalysis, [19][20][21] liquids have potential differentiable advantages because they can flow and might also promote more rapid heat transfer and dissipation. 22 By contrast, the porosity per unit volume for porous liquids is thus far much lower than for porous solids.…”