Aberystwyth Leads International Research on Glassy Materials

Researchers from Europe, China and Japan, led by Aberystwyth University physicist, Professor Neville Greaves, have discovered a method of manufacturing glass that could lead to the production of 'designer glasses' with applications in advanced photonics, while also facilitating industrial scale carbon capture and storage.

A report* describes how they have been able to melt a relatively new family of sponge-like porous materials before they decompose and burn, potentially enabling substantial solid structures to be fabricated from the nanoscale liquid structures.

In a plenary lecture at the International Congress on Glass, (Bangkok, Thailand, 2015) Professor Greaves said that it was the open atomic architecture of the transformed materials that could enable toxic or useful molecules to be selectively trapped or filtered. “Quite apart from their industrial potential, watching the way porous materials transform is a major step forward. With these discoveries we are starting to learn the ground rules of the way materials melt.”

François-Xavier Coudert, a physical chemist who specialises in porous materials at CNRS in France, was interested in the implications for the fundamental chemistry. “Making metal–organic framework as liquids, it’s a totally new state of matter that becomes accessible in addition to the traditional solid material.”

The team used the UK’s Synchrotron Particle Accelerator at Diamond Light Source to scrutinise these glassy frameworks in atomic detail.

The study was funded by Wuhan University of Technology, Hubei, China, where Professor Greaves has been elected Strategic Scientist and awarded a million pound grant to develop the physics of the Extreme Glassy State.

*Published in Nature Communications ("Hybrid glasses from strong and fragile metal-organic framework liquids")