PMO: Periodic Mesoporous Organosilicas

Periodic Mesoporous Organosilicas (PMOs) are an interesting class of hybrid nanomaterials that combine the framework and the rigidity of inorganic silicas with organic bridges. The latter is of great importance as it determines the properties of the materials such as hydrophobicity and stability. On top of this, the organic bridge can be chemically modified to introduce functional groups. This finetunes the PMO material for specific high-end applications. The synthesis principle is of an ingenious simplicity: a silica source is polycondensed around a template (a surfactant or a soap in an aqueous solution that forms micells). After surfactant removal, a mesoporous material with open pores remains with a high specific surface area of approximately 1000 m²/g, a pore volume of approximately 1 mL/g and a very narrow pore size distribution. By using a precursor with a bridging organic function, Periodic Mesoporous Organosilicas or PMOs are obtained.

Mesoporous silica materials find versatile applications in different type of fields: heterogeneous catalysis (e.g., as a catalyst in esterifications, aldolcondensations, epoxidations,...), as packing materials in chromatography, as adsorbents in environmental applications (e.g., toxic metals, gasses, pesticides,...), matrix for enzymes and proteins (biocatalysts), as scaffold for synthesis of bone-tissue or controlled drug delivery system or even as thin-layer dielectrics in microelectronic devices. The applications are nearly unlimited and the interests in these straightforward materials are still growing year after year. COMOC is specialized in the development of new ordered porous material and has also intensive collaborations with other national and international renowned research groups in the field. A review and some research articles on PMOs from our group:Van Der Voort, Pascal, et al. "Periodic mesoporous organosilicas: from simple to complex bridges; a comprehensive overview of functions, morphologies and applications." 

  • Van Der Voort, Pascal, et al. "Periodic mesoporous organosilicas: from simple to complex bridges; a comprehensive overview of functions, morphologies and applications." Chemical Society Reviews 42.9 (2013): 3913-3955.
  • Kaczmarek, Anna M., et al. "Lanthanide-grafted bipyridine periodic mesoporous organosilicas (BPy-PMOs) for physiological range and wide temperature range luminescence thermometry." ACS applied materials & interfaces 12.11 (2020): 13540-13550.
  • Kaczmarek, Anna M., and Pascal Van Der Voort. "Light-emitting lanthanide periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO) hybrid materials." Materials 13.3 (2020): 566.De Canck, Els, et al. "Periodic mesoporous organosilicas functionalized with a wide variety of amines for CO 2 adsorption." Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 15.24 (2013): 9792-9799.
  • Kaczmarek, Anna M., et al. "Amine-containing (nano-) Periodic Mesoporous Organosilica and its application in catalysis, sorption and luminescence." Microporous and Mesoporous Materials 291 (2020): 109687.
  • Vercaemst, Carl, et al. "Ethenylene-bridged periodic mesoporous organosilicas: From E to Z." Chemistry of Materials 21.24 (2009): 5792-5800.
  • Ryzhikov, Andrey, et al. "Periodic mesoporous organosilicas as porous matrix for heterogeneous lyophobic systems." Microporous and Mesoporous Materials 260 (2018): 166-171.