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Science 27 July 2007:
Vol. 317. no. 5837, pp. 490 - 493
DOI: 10.1126/science.1142535
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Reports

Porous Semiconducting Gels and Aerogels from Chalcogenide Clusters

Santanu Bag,1,2 Pantelis N. Trikalitis,2* Peter J. Chupas,3 Gerasimos S. Armatas,1,2 Mercouri G. Kanatzidis1,2,4{dagger}

Inorganic porous materials are being developed for use as molecular sieves, ion exchangers, and catalysts, but most are oxides. We show that various sulfide and selenide clusters, when bound to metal ions, yield gels having porous frameworks. These gels are transformed to aerogels after supercritical drying with carbon dioxide. The aerogels have high internal surface area (up to 327 square meters per gram) and broad pore size distribution, depending on the precursors used. The pores of these sulfide and selenide materials preferentially absorb heavy metals. These materials have narrow energy gaps (between 0.2 and 2.0 electron volts) and low densities, and they may be useful in optoelectronics, as photocatalysts, or in the removal of heavy metals from water.

1 Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
2 Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
3 Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA.
4 Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA.

* Present address: Department of Chemistry, University of Crete, Heraklion 71409, Greece.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: m-kanatzidis{at}northwestern.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Colloidal Nanocrystals with Molecular Metal Chalcogenide Surface Ligands.
M. V. Kovalenko, M. Scheele, and D. V. Talapin (2009)
Science 324, 1417-1420
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)