Pores for thought

Tailoring porous materials to combine several properties within the same solid has moved a step closer, thanks to the work of Franck Millange and G?rard F?rey and colleagues. The French team are designing multifunctional solids that combine porosity with a range of physical properties, like magnetism and luminescence, that are usually associated with dense oxides. By combining 1D chains of europium polyhedra with an organic ligand the team have created a hybrid material that is microporous and yet also possesses optical properties . The design means that energy absorbed by the ligand can be transferred to the europium ion. This gives high yield luminescence. Millange comments that this ’tailor-made’ approach will be very attractive to industry. 

Helen Fletcher