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Soft matter in hard confinement: phase transition thermodynamics, structure, texture, diffusion and flow in nanoporous media
Publikationstyp
Journal Article
Date Issued
2015-02-13
Sprache
English
Author(s)
Institut
Volume
27
Issue
10
Article Number
103102
Citation
Journal of Physics Condensed Matter 27 (10): 103102 (2015-03-18)
Publisher DOI
Scopus ID
PubMed ID
25679044
Publisher
IOP Publ.
Spatial confinement in nanoporous media affects the structure, thermodynamics and mobility of molecular soft matter often markedly. This article reviews thermodynamic equilibrium phenomena, such as physisorption, capillary condensation, crystallisation, self-diffusion, and structural phase transitions as well as selected aspects of the emerging field of spatially confined, non-equilibrium physics, i.e. the rheology of liquids, capillarity-driven flow phenomena, and imbibition front broadening in nanoporous materials. The observations in the nanoscale systems are related to the corresponding bulk phenomenologies. The complexity of the confined molecular species is varied from simple building blocks, like noble gas atoms, normal alkanes and alcohols to liquid crystals, polymers, ionic liquids, proteins and water. Mostly, experiments with mesoporous solids of alumina, gold, carbon, silica, and silicon with pore diameters ranging from a few up to 50nm are presented. The observed peculiarities of nanopore-confined condensed matter are also discussed with regard to applications. A particular emphasis is put on texture formation upon crystallisation in nanoporous media, a topic both of high fundamental interest and of increasing nanotechnological importance, e.g. for the synthesis of organic/inorganic hybrid materials by melt infiltration, the usage of nanoporous solids in crystal nucleation or in template-assisted electrochemical deposition of nano structures.
Subjects
soft matter
nanoporous media
confinement
molecular condensates
phase transition
crystalline texture
transport
DDC Class
530: Physik
Funding Organisations
More Funding Information
They contributed to the research efforts as students, colleagues or guest scientists. Support by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the graduate school 1276, ‘Structure formation and transport in complex systems’ (Saarbruecken, Germany), the research project
HU850/3 and the collaborative research initiative ‘Tailormade Multi-Scale Materials Systems’ (SFB 986, Hamburg, Germany) are gratefully acknowledged.
HU850/3 and the collaborative research initiative ‘Tailormade Multi-Scale Materials Systems’ (SFB 986, Hamburg, Germany) are gratefully acknowledged.