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영어로 읽는 과학기사 The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology(Ahn Byung-man, Minister), said on July 2 that a research team involving Prof. Kim Ja-heon of Soongsil University's department of chemistry had successfully developed the Metal-Organic Framework(MOF), a porous hybrid nano-compound that boasts the world's biggest surface area of its kind, working jointly with Prof. Omar M Yaghi of the University of California, Los Angeles in the U.S.
Kim's team developed the new material, a mere gram of which can cover an entire soccer field, by integrating organic molecules and metallic ions, with support from the Hydrogen Energy R&D Center(Kim Jong-won, director) under the 21st Century Frontier Program. The study was published on July 1 in the online edition of Science, demonstrating its excellence worldwide.
A porous hybrid is essential for separating, recovering and reusing hydrogen and greenhouse gases in an environmentally friendly and economical fashion, and advanced nations are scrambling to develop related technology. Amid this situation, scientists have developed a new material, a task that has been the biggest challenge in the industry, and are thus set to gain an edge in the next-generation fuel cell market.
Porous material is a material that contains empty spaces measuring 1 to 100 nanometers in size. Notably, the porous hybrid Metal-Organic Framework retains pores, which are regularly patterned and consistent in size and shape, and thus can be very useful as a catalyst or gas storage substance.
1 gram of MOF can cover entire soccer field
The newly developed porous hybrid MOF is a basic fundamental material with the world's largest surface area of its kind, able to cover a soccer field measuring 10,000 sq. meters (100m x 100m). This figure represents a nearly 60% expansion from conventional porous materials, and is estimated to reach the maximum possible value obtainable by a porous material.
One gram of the new material can store as much as 2.9 grams of carbon dioxide under 50 atm at room temperature. It can also contain the same volume of hydrogen as that currently stored in the high pressure containers of 700 atm that are commonly used to contain hydrogen, at a temperature of -196degree, and a low pressure of 1/7 of the container, making it possible to store a large volume of hydrogen safely and efficiently.
Thus, the material is expected to be highly useful in the development of a hydrogen storage material and storage technology, which are essential to the operation of hydrogen-powered vehicles, and fuel cells for households.
Director Kim Jong-won of the center predicts that "the expansion of the surface area of a porous material, at a time when there is a growing need for a new material that can store a large volume of hydrogen, will result in the expansion of storage volumes, and thus open up a new horizon in its ecological applications, including the capture of carbon dioxide and hydrogen."
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저작권자 2010.07.23 ⓒ ScienceTimes
