Hae Sung Cho

Facile Synthesis of Monodispersed Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles with Ultralarge Pores and Their Application in Gene Delivery

Among various nanoparticles, the silica nanoparticle (SiNP) is an attractive candidate as a gene delivery carrier due to advantages such as availability in porous forms for encapsulation of drugs and genes, large surface area to load biomacromolecules, biocompatibility, storage stability, and easy preparation in large quantity with low cost. Here, we report on a facile synthesis of monodispersed mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MMSN) possessing very large pores (>15 nm) and application of the nanoparticles to plasmid DNA delivery to human cells. The aminated MMSN with large pores provided a higher loading capacity for plasmids than those with small pores (∼2 nm), and the complex of MMSN with plasmid DNA readily entered into cells without supplementary polymers such as cationic dendrimers. Furthermore, MMSN with large pores could efficiently protect plasmids from nuclease-mediated degradation and showed much higher transfection efficiency of the plasmids encoding luciferase and green fluorescent protein (pLuc, pGFP) compared to MMSN with small pores (∼2 nm).

Extra adsorption and adsorbate superlattice formation in metal-organic frameworks

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have a high internal surface area and widely tunable composition, which make them useful for applications involving adsorption, such as hydrogen, methane or carbon dioxide storage. The selectivity and uptake capacity of the adsorption process are determined by interactions involving the adsorbates and their porous host materials. But, although the interactions of adsorbate molecules with the internal MOF surface and also amongst themselves within individual pores have been extensively studied, adsorbate–adsorbate interactions across pore walls have not been explored. Here we show that local strain in the MOF, induced by pore filling, can give rise to collective and long-range adsorbate–adsorbate interactions and the formation of adsorbate superlattices that extend beyond an original MOF unit cell. Specifically, we use in situ small-angle X-ray scattering to track and map the distribution and ordering of adsorbate molecules in five members of the mesoporous MOF-74 series along entire adsorption–desorption isotherms. We find in all cases that the capillary condensation that fills the pores gives rise to the formation of ‘extra adsorption domains’—that is, domains spanning several neighbouring pores, which have a higher adsorbate density than non-domain pores. In the case of one MOF, IRMOF-74-V-hex, these domains form a superlattice structure that is difficult to reconcile with the prevailing view of pore-filling as a stochastic process. The visualization of the adsorption process provided by our data, with clear evidence for initial adsorbate aggregation in distinct domains and ordering before an even distribution is finally reached, should help to improve our understanding of this process and may thereby improve our ability to exploit it practically.

In situ growth-etching approach to the preparation of hierarchically macroporous zeolites with high MTO catalytic activity and selectivity

Silicoaluminophosphate zeolite SAPO-34 with CHA topology is known as one of the best catalysts for methanol-to-olefin (MTO) conversion. In this work, we demonstrate a facile one-step hydrothermal synthesis of hierarchically macroporous SAPO-34 through the etching effect of hydrofluoric acid. The highly crystalline hierarchically macroporous SAPO-34 is prepared as central-holed rhombohedral crystals with particle size of ca. 5–10 μm that comprise intracrystalline parallel macrochannels of ca. 100 nm. The formation of macroporous structures via in situ growth-etching can be directly imaged by SEM. Strikingly, a particular crystal configuration consisting of eight pyramidal parts has been first observed during the zeolite crystal growth process, which eventually grows to form a perfect rhombohedral shape. The HF etching effect is further elucidated by the analysis of changes of pH values as well as of solid and liquid compositions following the evolution of crystallization. The texture properties, chemical environments of framework atoms, and acidity of the synthesized SAPO-34 are characterized by N2 adsorption/desorption, MAS NMR and NH3-TPD measurements. The hierarchically macroporous SAPO-34 shows larger micropore volume, slightly stronger acid strength, and lower external surface acidity than its conventional counterpart synthesized without using HF. Consequently, the hierarchically macroporous SAPO-34 exhibits excellent MTO catalytic performance, showing much higher selectivity to ethylene and propylene as well as longer lifetime than the conventional counterpart. In comparison with previously reported methods for the generation of hierarchical porosity, this one-step HF-assisted in situ growth-etching synthetic route is simple, straightforward and cost-effective, which offers a new approach to prepare hierarchically porous zeolites with improved catalytic activity.

An ethylenediamine-grafted Y zeolite: a highly regenerable carbon dioxide adsorbent via temperature swing adsorption without urea formation

Solid adsorbents including amine-functionalized porous materials and zeolites have been extensively investigated for post-combustion CO2 capture. Amine-functionalized porous materials have shown highly promising CO2 uptake in a wet flue gas, but suffer from significant amine deactivation due to urea formation under desorption conditions (e.g., desorption under 100% CO2 at >130 °C) of temperature swing adsorption (TSA) cycles. In contrast, purely inorganic zeolites are thermochemically stable but cannot adsorb CO2 from a wet flue gas because of the preferential H2O adsorption. In the present work, we synthesized an ethylenediamine-grafted Y zeolite, which can synergistically combine the strengths of both adsorbent systems. The amine groups can effectively capture CO2 in a wet flue gas, while the strongly co-adsorbed H2O within the hydrophilic zeolite micropores suppresses urea formation (dehydration reaction between amines and CO2) under desorption conditions according to Le Chateliers principle. The organic–zeolite hybrid adsorbent retains working capacities higher than 1.1 mmol g−1 over 20 TSA cycles. Because the adsorbent is prepared from a commercially available zeolite, it is also highly cost efficient and suitable for mass production.

Controlling morphology, mesoporosity, crystallinity, and photocatalytic activity of ordered mesoporous TiO2 films prepared at low temperature

Partly ordered mesoporous titania films with anatase crystallites incorporated into the pore walls were prepared at low temperature by spin-coating a microemulsion-based reaction solution. The effect of relative humidity employed during aging of the prepared films was studied using SEM, TEM, and grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering to evaluate the mesoscopic order, porosity, and crystallinity of the films. The study shows unambiguously that crystal growth occurs mainly during storage of the films and proceeds at room temperature largely depending on relative humidity. Porosity, pore size, mesoscopic order, crystallinity, and photocatalytic activity of the films increased with relative humidity up to an optimum around 75%.