Self organized sieves

In addition to mesostructured metal oxide molecular sieves prepared through supramolecular assembly pathways, clays, carbon molecular sieves, porous polymers, sol-gel and imprinted materials, as well as self-assembled organic and other zeolite-like materials, have captured the attention of materials researchers around the globe. Clays, zeolites and sol-gel materials are still very popular because of their extensive and expanding applications in catalysis and separation science. Novel carbons and polymers of ordered porous structures have been synthesized. There are almost unlimited opportunities in the synthesis of new organic materials of desired structural and surface properties via self-assembly or imprinting procedures. 

S.D. Cox, T.E. Gier, and G.D. Stucky, Second Harmonic Generation by the Self-aggregation of Organic Guests in Molecular Sieve Hosts. Chem. Mater., 1990, 2, 609-619. 

Table 1 summarizes terms and phrases used in membrane science and technology. To have sufficiently high fluxes, the molecular sieve separation layer (zeolite, metal-organic framework) has to be in the pm-scale. Because such thin layers are not self-supporting for mechanical reasons, inorganic membranes are usually prepared as supported membranes (Fig. 1). 

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