MOF, Zeolites and Activated Carbons
A number of material classes with inherent porosity exists, which are discovered or currently optimized in research and development departments and groups. Next to the more classical adsorbents such as zeolites, activated carbons and silica gels, recent research publications put out a display of materials such as MOFs, POFs, MCMs, porous glasses, aerogels, ALPOs, SAPOs and pillared clays among others. Relevant targets for optimization and variation of these materials are usually defined in academic or industrial research and development. This means that mostly laboratory methods are applied, even though development processes include the analysis of parameters and characteristics for applications at very early stages. Analytical methods and processes for standard texture analysis (such as BET-surface area and pore size distributions) remains a cornerstone in characterization of new materials, however, the development of these materials tends to include the study of technically relevant adsorption capacities or completely new fields of application, much like the development of technical adsorbents.