Hybrid Imogolites and Membranes with Optimized Organization – HIMO2

Imogolites are natural aluminosilicate nanotubes with 2 nm diameter and up to micron length. We are now able to produce large quantity of synthetic imogolite nanotubes having variable diameters from 2 to 4 nm, different morphologies (single or double wall) and lengths from 10 to 1000 nm and more. These synthetic nanotubes are perfectly dispersed in water and prone to many physico-chemical modifications. In the HIMO2 project we plan i) to explore the physcico-chemical modifications of imogolite to produce imogolite hybrids (hydrophobic, magnetic...) and ii) to use an original tip-tip coupling reaction to synthesize multi-block imogolite hybrids. The properties of these hybrid imogolites will be tuned to achieve their self-assembly in a 1D “end-on” nanostructured imogolite membrane. The production of such imogolite-based membranes is a challenge. Upon success, it will undoubtedly find very promising applications for nanofluidics, nanofiltration, nanostructured solar cells or proton conducting membranes.
The project consortium has achieved recent breakthroughs in the field of imogolite research (synthesis in large quantity, discovery of double-wall imogolite nanotubes, shape and role of the proto-imogolite, growth mechanism, kinetic modeling and metal incorporation in the walls...). We have also developed a characterization platform and expertise that we plan to adapt to the case of hybrid imogolite and imogolite membrane.
This project is an opportunity for our consortium to develop fundamental knowledge useful for the imogolite nanotubes self-assembly and to support the establishment of a recognized international leadership in this field.