Use of confinement effects in mesoporous materials to build tailored nanoarchitectures

Abstract

This chapter presents and discusses seminal work and recent advances in the confinement effects originated in ordered mesoporous materials (MM) derived from supramolecular templating. MM present high surface areas and tailored pore sizes; pore surfaces can be modified by functional groups or nanospecies. In confined spaces of nearly molecular dimensions, these components are in close interaction with the surface. This leads to remarkable physical and chemical properties, due to the different structures and dynamics from those exhibited in bulk. These effects have been used for the construction of mesoporous-based nanocomposites with implications on molecular adsorption, catalysis, drug transport and permeoselectivity.