Towards Sustainable Synthesis of Mesoporous Particles and Their Applications for Sustainability

Mesoporous materials have attracted wide interest since the first discovery in the early 1990s. There has been a scientific boost in control of the structure, porosity, framework composition and surface/interface functionality of mesoporous materials, as well as lab-scale tests for a wide range of applications. Unfortunately, there still lacks large-scale industrial applications of these unique materials. New routes on sustainable synthesis and processing, as well as demonstrations of industrial applications toward sustainability are highly expected in this research area. In this talk, we will demonstrate some of our recent efforts on the sustainable synthesis and processing of mesoporous materials. Particularly, we will demonstrate our efforts on fast assembly and processing of porous particles with large (a few to a few hundred of micrometers) and highly uniform particle sizes. By adopting a unique spray drying technology, versatile approaches for the synthesis of mesoporous carbon and carbon-based microspheres with ordered mesostructures, hierarchical pores, high surface areas and large pore volumes have been established. By combining sol-gel chemistry and self-assembly in spray drying, the synthesis of a series of uniform mesoporous oxides (silica, alumina, and titania) and MOFs microspheres (microparticles) can be achieved. By controlling chemical nucleation and growth during fast drying, mesoporous metal-doped functional microspheres can be obtained and scaled up. We will also demonstrate some applications of these mesoporous particles in separation and catalysis for the purpose of sustainability.