Objective
Negative gas adsorption (NGA) is a new, counterintuitive and paradoxical phenomenon, for the first time
reported by my group in 2016: Normal solid materials with significant outer or inner surface area always
take up gas when the pressure in the surrounding reservoir is increased (adsorption). NGA networks instead
react at a certain point in the opposite direction: They release gas upon external pressure increase, leading to
an overall pressure amplification in a closed system. Comparable phenomena have never been reported
before. What is so exciting about NGA? We have a unique material in hand, that counteracts to an external
force by force amplification.
So far NGA has solely been observed in one of our new coordination polymers, featuring a colossal selfcompression
associated with a mesopore-to-micropore transformation. Gas pressure amplifying materials
could lead to important innovations in gas releasing rescue systems, pneumatic control systems (production,
transportation), micropumps, microfluidic devices, pneumatic actuators, and artificial lungs. A fundamental
understanding of the physical mechanisms, structures, and thermodynamic boundary conditions is an
essential prerequisite for any industrial application of this counterintuitive phenomenon.
Combining strong synthetic methodologies with advanced analytical techniques, AMPLIPORE will elucidate
the characteristic molecular and mesoscopic materials signatures as well as thermodynamic boundary
conditions of NGA phenomena. We will elaborate a generic NGA-materials concept to tailor the pressure
amplification and explore temperature and pressure ranges at which NGA can be applied. Developing tailormade
instrumentation for kinetic investigations of NGA will give fundamental insights into the intrinsic and
macroscopic dynamics of crystal-to-crystal transformations for applications in micropneumatic systems.
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Funding Scheme
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantHost institution
01069 Dresden
Germany