The study, which brought together research teams from Croatia, Poland, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, points to a simpler and more resource efficient way of producing high performance materials for potential applications such as capturing or separating gases and liquids, as well as purifying industrial process streams.

The discovery comes at a time when industries worldwide are seeking faster and cleaner ways to produce materials that support climate and energy solutions. Power plants, refineries and chemical facilities need materials capable of recognising and retaining specific molecules. These materials act as extremely precise filters, allowing some molecules to pass through their microscopic pores while trapping others.

The size and arrangement of these pores determine whether a material can separate carbon dioxide from flue gases, purify fuel or separate gases used in industry. The difficulty is that the same chemical ingredients can form several different structures, not all of which have the required properties.

Finding the right structure often requires numerous experiments, large quantities of solvents, heating and substantial energy consumption. The researchers have now demonstrated a simpler way to control this process. They found that a single drop of a carefully selected liquid can direct how the starting components connect to form a solid material.

From Laboratory Experiment to Practical Recipe, a Smarter Route to Materials

The team focused on a well known, sponge like solid made from zinc and the organic linker imidazole, a model system used by researchers around the world. Instead of preparing the material in vessels filled with solvent, they crushed and ground the ingredients, adding only one or two drops of a carefully selected liquid.

This tiny amount of liquid acts much like seasoning in cooking. The basic ingredients remain the same, but different seasonings can completely change the flavour of a dish. The same principle applies here, changing the liquid changes the blueprint that the atoms follow.

In a direct comparison involving 45 different liquids, the same starting ingredients produced 13 versions of the material, representing eight different classes of internal structural arrangement. Two of these versions had never previously been reported.

The researchers also captured short lived, incomplete states that revealed how the material forms and how unproductive pathways can be avoided when targeting a specific structure.

“We are no longer simply observing how a material assembles, we are directing the process,” explains corresponding author Dr Ivana Brekalo of the Ruđer Bošković Institute. “A single drop is enough to control how the same atoms connect, while using less liquid, less energy and providing greater control.”

Under the Microscope, X Rays and Supercomputers

To confirm exactly what they had produced, the researchers used X ray analysis, both in Croatia and with highly powerful instruments at a national laboratory in the United States. These instruments act like super cameras for atoms, detecting the distinctive fingerprint of every structure produced.

The team also carried out extensive computer simulations using supercomputers in Croatia, the United Kingdom, Poland and Canada. The simulations helped explain why a particular liquid additive leads to a targeted structural arrangement.

Together, the experiments and calculations open the way to a practical materials cookbook. In simplified terms, the approach can be expressed as follows, to obtain property A, select arrangement B and add a drop of liquid C.

Less Waste, Better Performance

Because a material’s internal structure determines its properties, this level of control could lead to improved sponge like materials for carbon dioxide capture, more durable filters for demanding conditions and cleaner, longer lasting catalysts.

These benefits can be achieved while using far less solvent and energy. The result is a faster, less expensive and greener route to materials that are essential for decarbonisation and modern manufacturing.

Who Conducted the Research?

The study, titled “Mechanochemical Solid Form Screening of Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks Using Structure Directing Liquid Additives”, was conducted by scientists from the Ruđer Bošković Institute in Croatia, Georgetown University in the United States, the University of Warsaw in Poland, McGill University in Canada and the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

The authors are Ivana Brekalo, first and corresponding author, Mihails Arhangelskis, corresponding author, Tomislav Friščić, corresponding author, K. Travis Holman, corresponding author, Katarina Lisac, Joseph R. Ramirez, Petra Pongrac, Andreas Puškarić, Srećko Valić, Yizhi Xu, Michael Ferguson and Joseph M. Marrett.

Funding and Project Support

The research was supported by the Research Support Development Programme of the Ministry of Science and the Croatian Science Foundation, funded through Croatia’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan.