Porous materials constitute one of the most important groups of materials in our society. They are used in diverse areas of application ranging from heterogeneous catalysis through controlled drug release to high surface area electrodes in energy conversion technologies, and are finding new areas of application in e.g. photonics and electronics. Their unique properties stem from a combination of porosity, structural order and elemental composition, and can be intrinsic to the material or added to it via various functionalisation strategies.

The formation of porous materials takes place under soft wet chemical conditions where structure directing agents interact with molecular precursors with which they co-assemble into desired structures. The porosity ranges from a few Å in diameter to tens of nm or more depending on type of material and the nature of the structure directing agent. The macroscopic shape of porous materials can be affected ranging from colloidal particles through monolithic pieces to thin films.

Elaborate synthesis schemes have been developed throughout the history of porous materials to allow for new structures and compositions to be prepared. Understanding the connections between synthesis methodologies and the formed structures and their properties is at the heart of materials chemistry and greatly overlaps with the areas of soft matter physics and surface chemistry. To gain insight into these aspects, the usefulness of a range of analytical tools such as SAXS, AFM, electron microscopy and NMR will be illustrated in the lectures.

Course responsible

Prof. Anders Palmqvist, Chalmers; phone: 031-772 2961; email: Anders Palmqvist.

Teachers

• Professor Michael Anderson, The University of Manchester, UK will give lectures on “Introduction to porous materials and their formation”.
• Professor Galen Stucky, University of California - Santa Barbara, USA will give lectures on “Status and prospect for applications of porous materials”
• Professor Ryong Ryoo, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea will give lectures on “Non-oxide porous materials and materials with hierarchic pore structures”
• Professor Osamu Terasaki, Stockholm University and KAIST, Korea will give lectures on “Structural characterization of porous materials”
• Professor Brad Chmelka, University of California - Santa Barbara, USA will give lectures on “Functionalization and characterization of functional groups in porous materials”
• Associate Professor Viveka Alfredsson, Lund University, Sweden will give lectures on “Mechanistic aspects of formation of porous materials”
• Professor Anders Palmqvist, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden will give lectures on “Porous semiconductors and macroscopic shaping of porous materials”

Examination

The students are expected to work actively during the course. They will be given group assignments and perform group presentations. We recommend that students after completing the course will be given 4.5 ECTS.

Date

June 28 - July 2, 2010.

Venue

Smögens havsbad in Smögen. Students will share double rooms.

Number of participants

The number of students will be limited to 30.

Program

A tentative detailed program for the course is available for download.

Cost

The course is free for all PhD students active in Sweden. All meals are included. The fee for foreign students is 300€.

Registration

To register, contact Ann Jakobsson at Chalmers; phone: 031-772 2970; email: Ann Jakobsson.